Nigeria Police has declared its readiness for today’s governorship election in Ondo State with the deployment of 22 armoured vehicles, 20 gunboats, 2 helicopters

Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Joshak Habila, said anyone found inducing voters with money would be arrested, no matter how highly placed.

The DIG, who is the ground commander-in-charge of Ondo governorship election, said every arrangement had been made to ensure there were no security breaches.

Habila is being assisted by two Assistant Inspectors-General of Police Paul Okafor of Zone 11 and E. S. Saha of the Air Wing.

Each senatorial zone is headed by a commissioner of police.

The DIG said over 26,000 policemen had been deployed to ensure a smooth election.

According to him, there are 3,009 polling units, each to be manned by at least five policemen to be assisted by men of sister agencies such as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the army, among others.

Habila said no one should go near a polling unit with more than N5,000. This, he said, is a way of checking voter inducement.

He said his men were working in harmony with INEC to ensure that materials got to polling units on time and in safety.

Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Femi Johnson, added that an inter-agency security committee was set up to ensure maximum security.

He said the DIG met with the Military Brigade Commander, 32 Artillery, as well as Controllers of Prisons, Immigration, the Department of State Services Director, among others.

He said there would be intensive stop-and-search of vehicles travelling through the highways, such as the Benin-Ore Road, which he said would not be completely locked down.

He said there would be restriction of movement within the state as from 12 am yesterday until about 8pm today to ensure there were no infiltrators.

Also yesterday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared its readiness to conduct a hitch-free governorship election in the state.