Authorities of the University of Ghana have defended the deployment of National Security personnel to the school's campus during Wednesday's Student Representative Council (SRC) elections.

Some students had expressed concerns about the presence of the personnel as some described the situation as intimidating and a plot to influence the outcome of the elections in favour of some candidates.

According to the students, since the University had its own security officials stationed at the various polling centres, the presence of national security was unnecessary.

They also pointed to the Ayawaso West Wuogon election violence as the source of their fear.

But the Director of Public Affairs of the University of Ghana, Elizier Taiba Ameyaw-Buronyah, has explained that the presence of the security officials was to ensure a peaceful election.

"I don’t agree with this submission made by students. When there are elections, the university security is around to ensure that everything goes on well. Anything can happen when there is an election."

"They [had] gone far in their elections and we [hadn’t] heard of any violence or any problem. I am not of the view that they [national security personnel] [were there] to cause violence or to initiate violence or anything of the sort. They [were] only helping to keep calm," she told JoyNews' Maxwell Agbagba on Wednesday.

The 2020 National Democratic Congress (NDC)'s parliamentary candidate for the area, John Dumelo, who was at the grounds to monitor the elections, bemoaned the presence of the security officials, describing it as an "abuse of power."

He said: "It’s unfortunate that the national security personnel are here. This is an SRC election, it’s an internal election and it’s been peaceful so far.

"I believe the East Legon police personnel are around and they are maintaining law and order, So, I don’t see how the national security should be here."

"I feel that their presence here is just an act of intimidation, just to intimidate some groups of people, just to show that they are here and all of that but it’s totally unnecessary, they could have stayed off somewhere."

The University's Director of Public Affairs, Elizier Ameyaw-Buronyah, maintained that "they [national security] cannot influence the outcome of the elections in anyway."