Independent National Electoral Commission has called for a different approach to the deployment of security agents during elections.

Its Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said this in Abuja, during the Commission’s regular quarterly consultative meeting on the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.

Yakubu expressed his displeasure with the previous uncoordinated approach, which made it look as if the security agencies were running a parallel arrangement with the commission.

Consequently, in the forthcoming general polls, he said the armed forces would only be used for the securing of the distribution and delivery of election materials and protection of election officials.

He said learning from the experience of some of the 195 off-season elections conducted since 2015, it had become pertinent to draw attention to the need for a different approach to the deployment of security forces during elections.

“The Nigeria Police Force remains the lead agency for election security. Other security agencies will play a supportive role to the Nigeria Police.

“However, we need a new security architecture for 2019 consistent with the provision of Section 29 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which provides as follows:

“29 (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law and for purposes of securing the vote, the Commission shall be responsible for requesting for the deployment of relevant security personnel necessary for elections or registration of voters and shall assign them in a manner to be determined by the Commission in consultation with the relevant security agencies:

“Provided that the Commission shall only request for the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces only for the purposes of securing the distribution and delivery of election materials and protection of election officials.

He said the meeting would discuss modalities for actualising the provision of the law, adding that INEC was committed to ensuring that elections were organised in a manner that security agencies “are not perceived to be running parallel arrangement with INEC. Rather, it should strictly be INEC’s plan for the election that should be implemented’’.

Yakubu further said that the meeting was convened primarily to update members of ICCES on INEC’s preparations for the 2019 General Elections.

He added that the meeting was also an opportunity to hear from the security agencies on their preparations so far.

He expressed appreciation for the collaboration between security agencies, saying that it facilitated the smooth conduct of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) over a period of 16 months – April 27, 2017 to Aug. 31, 2018, when it was suspended.

Yakubu disclosed that the exercise would start again immediately after the general elections.

The electoral body has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for February sixteenth, while that of states is scheduled for March second.