'Lai Olurode and MK Hammanga Indeed, it is believed that some of the differences that are noticed in election outcomes in the different parts of the country may well be because of wrong judgment in deployment. In the second section to this paper, we shall discuss perspectives on election security and in the third section, the focus will be on factors that influence deployment. Some of the core challenges of deployment of security personnel in election will be in section four and our conclusions are contained in the final section. 5.2 Contending Theoretical Perspectives on Election Security There is need to provide a brief insight into the contending perspectives on election security. Historically, Nigeria's elections have been faced with a plethora of security challenges and in most cases, the primary goal of elections had been unmet. Some authors have concluded that it is almost impossible to contemplate elections in Nigeria without thinking of violence and conflict as being inseparable. And talking about the scope of INEC's security mandate, we have in mind security of personnel, security of election material and security of information 1 . These security challenges did not arise out of outright absence of security personnel but mainly from ineffective policing, collusion of security personnel, diversion of security personnel to wrong ends 2 . There is also the issue of the audacity and impunity of the political class among other competing private interests of security personnel. Of course, Nigeria has always had challenges with the training of its security personnel, their remuneration as well as shortage of relevant equipments needed for other operational efficiency. 66 ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING Deployment of Security Personnel in Elections: Challenges and Lessons from the Field Given the Nigerian environment, the dominant perspective is that free, fair and generally acceptable elections are possible only if security personnel, including the military are massively deployed. By security personnel, we have in mind personnel of the conventional NPF, SSS, NSCDC, NIS, NPS, NCS, similar other organizations as well as Nigerian Armed Forces. What has fueled this perspective of the indispensability of security personnel in the organization of our elections is the generalized violence which has become a common place, thuggery and sundry electoral malpractices that have featured consistently and prominently in our elections and have become their hallmark. In some pessimistic quarters, violence, intimidation and electoral malpractices generally are inseparable from elections in Nigeria 3 . In the above content, it is logical to conclude that only an adequate policing can secure the election environment. This pessimistic perspective is backed by history and experiences, and it is the view of most political actors and the public generally. A contending school of thought which is the optimistic perspective, though a minority viewpoint holds that in the nearest future, perhaps from the next election in 2015, Nigeria would no longer have to massively deploy security personnel to secure its elections. It is being assumed that election security would no longer be an issue. The view has been canvassed that by 2015, Nigeria would not need security personnel to conduct its elections, this position appears utopian to many. A leading proponent of this view is President Jonathan, who remarked that by 2015, security personnel would no longer be needed to secure our elections 4 . However, field experiences and recent ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING 67