The All Progressives Congress, APC, has urged security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and other public institutions that will be on duty in Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections to provide a level playing field for all parties..

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the police, DSS, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, military and INEC are all national institutions and that they must never again allow themselves to be appendages of any political party.

The party noted that the institutions must strictly adhere to their constitutional
roles, exhibit the highest level of professionalism and shun partisanship in the spirit of fairness and also in line with global best practices.

The party said the situation in which security agencies and INEC officials collude with a political party to terrorize innocent citizens and brazenly manipulate elections, as it alleged was the case in the past in states like Ekiti and Rivers will no longer be tolerated.

“We do not seek any unfair advantage over any other party. We do not seek any favours from any organization. All we demand is that national institutions that have any role to play in the forthcoming elections must carry out their duties fairly and professionally,” the party said.

It decried the alleged killings, maiming, harassment and intimidation of APC supporters in Rivers State by the police, in collusion with the PDP, as well as the ignoble role that was played by some INEC officials in the March 28 polls.

”The forthcoming Governorship and House of Assembly elections provide the first real test for our security agencies and INEC to depart from their old, unprofessional and highly partisan path and embrace professionalism and neutrality, because they will be the first elections to be held since Nigerians voted for change.

”All eyes will be watching the national institutions to see if they are ready to embrace the change that has come, in spite of them, or they will like to persist in their old, unedifying ways,” APC said.