A total of 2.8 million voters will this today determine the fate of Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of All Progressives Congress (APC) , George Moghalu of Labor Party (LP) , Sir Paul Chukwuma of Young Democratic Party (YPP) , Mr John Nwosu of African Democratic Congress ( ADC) Ozo Jeff Nweke of Action Alliance ( AA) and 10 other candidates in the state’s gubernatorial election.

This is just as the Nigeria Police have deployed two top officers, Deputy Inspector General of Police Benjamin Okolo and Deputy Inspector General of Police Yakubu Kwazin as Supervisory Officers for the election.

The Police Public Relations Officer for the state’s command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga in a statement stated that, “The Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform the public and residents of Anambra State that Okolo, fdc, who represented the Inspector General of Police on Monday at a peace agreement signing ceremony has officially assumed duty as the Supervisory Officer over all Police personnel deployed for the election.

“DIG Benjamin Okolo, fdc, alongside the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, DIG Yakubu Kwazhi, mni, represented the Inspector General of Police during the signing of the Peace Accord among political flag bearers and at stakeholders’ engagements.

“DIG Okolo is to oversee the operational framework, coordinate field deployments, and ensure strict adherence to the Force’s Rules of Engagement throughout the election security operations.

“This deployment forms part of the strategic security measures approved by the Inspector General of Police to ensure a peaceful, credible, and professionally managed election environment across Anambra State.”

Ikenga further reassured the public of adequate security arrangements during and after the election. He said, “The Nigeria Police Force reaffirms its commitment to safeguarding the electoral process, protecting the rights of citizens, and ensuring that all individuals and political actors conduct themselves in accordance with the law.

“The public is urged to remain law-abiding and to cooperate fully with Police officers and other security personnel detailed for election duties.

“Assisting DIG Benjamin Okolo in the coordination of election security operations are: AIG Akoh Benedict Gabriel, the Commissioner of Police for the Anambra Governorship Election, CP Abayomi Shogunle, PhD, fsi, and other Commissioners of Police deployed to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State, as well as other strategic senior officers,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the voters will be casting their votes in 578 polling units in the 21 local government areas of the state across the three Senatorial Districts. Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had cleared the 16 political parties and their candidates for the poll.

Apart from Governor Soludo and others earlier mentioned, other candidates cleared include: Echezona Oti of All People’s Movement (APM), Chioma Ifemeludike of African Action Congress (AAC), Charles Onyeze of Accord Party (AP), Jeff Onyejegbu of New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP).

Also the Commission cleared, Mr Jude Ezenwafor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) , Jerry Okeke of Boot Party (BP), Ndidi Olieh of National Rescue Movement (NRM) , Martin Ugwuoji of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Vincent Chukwurah of Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Similarly, a total of 55,000 security personnel made up of the Police, Army, Civil Defence, Department of State Service (DSS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) among others had been deployed.

Already all sensitive and non-sensitive materials had been distributed to all the polling units ahead of the election. The Anambra State government had earlier declared Friday public holiday for people to go and prepare for the election and to ensure that people go home to their polling units to perform their civic duties.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner Queen Elizabeth Agwu PhD assured that all materials for the election are ready and the BVAS had been test run for effective performance, noting that the Commission is good to go.

She also announced that voting would take place in all the polling units in Ihiala and Ogbaru local government areas where there has been security challenges in the past as enough security architecture had been put in place for a hitch free process.