RismadarVoice Reporters
August 14, 2026
The Nigeria Police Force has deployed helicopters, drones, Mobile Police personnel and other security operatives across Osun State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Okokon Iniedu, disclosed this on Friday at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo while addressing officers deployed for the election.
Mr Iniedu said the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, had directed the force to ensure a safe, peaceful and credible election while protecting lives and property.
He also warned that the police would deal decisively with vote-buying and other electoral offences during the poll.
“Vote buying is an electoral malpractice, and we will not tolerate any form of vote buying in Osun State,” he said.
According to him, the IGP had directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police overseeing the election to ensure that anyone caught engaging in vote-buying was arrested and prosecuted immediately.
The police spokesperson also assured voters, INEC officials and other election personnel of the neutrality of the security agencies.
“The directive of the federal police is that we conduct a secure, safe and seamless election,” he said.
Helicopters, drones deployed
Mr Iniedu said aerial surveillance had commenced across the state, while police personnel had been deployed to polling units, INEC offices and other strategic locations.
“As we speak, our air components have arrived, our Helicopter and Drone Units are on the ground, and they have commenced surveillance patrols across the state,” he said.
He disclosed that one unit of the Police Mobile Force had been deployed to each local government area, while two units of combat-ready armed MOPOL personnel had been assigned to protect INEC operations.
He added that seven units of the Special Protection Unit would be responsible for the movement of sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials as well as the protection of election officials.
Additional armed MOPOL personnel, he said, had been stationed at the command headquarters for rapid response, while patrol teams and checkpoints had been deployed across the state.
The police also deployed four unarmed security personnel to each polling unit as directed by the IGP.
“Osun State has over 3,700 polling units; we’ll be having four law enforcement personnel at each of these units for the elections,” Mr Iniedu said.
He said the command had conducted security threat assessments across all 30 local government areas and deployed personnel according to the risks identified in each area.
Covert operatives, he added, would also be deployed to gather intelligence and respond to emerging security threats.
Movement restriction
Mr Iniedu further confirmed that movement would be restricted across the state from midnight on Friday as part of measures to secure the election.
“By 12 midnight on Friday into Saturday, we will be locking down the town. We will be stopping vehicular movement at all locations in the state,” he said.
He assured residents that the police had put adequate measures in place to secure the election.
On recent security incidents, Mr Iniedu said the command had not received reports of fresh killings but acknowledged previous incidents involving cult clashes and alleged politically motivated violence.
“We have not received any recent complaints of killings. Before this time, we had received complaints of cult clashes and some pockets of killings that were described as politically motivated,” he said.
He said investigations into some of the incidents were ongoing, while suspects in other cases had already been charged before the courts.
“The role of the police is to investigate, get details of the incidents and charge them to court,” the FPRO said.
The Osun governorship election is scheduled to hold across the state on Saturday, with security agencies placed on heightened alert to prevent violence, voter intimidation and other electoral offences.
