Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said it have put in place water- tight measures to ensure the conduct of free, fair and transparent general election in 2023.
The assistant inspector general of police in charge of Zone 8, Asafa Rafiu, gave this assurance while addressing stakeholders in the elections in Ilorin, Kwara State yesterday.
Rafiu who was on familiarisation tour of the state, said the police force is ready to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to ensure peaceful general election in 2023 becomes a reality.
“You will recall that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, recently for the umpteenth time assured Nigerians and the international community that his government would conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2023 and ensure peaceful transfer of power. “Therefore, the Nigeria Police Force is ready to make sure that this assurance by Mr President comes to reality by the grace of God,” Rafiu stated.
To achieve this, the AIG said the Police Force have embarked on training and retraining of its personnel on their roles during the elections.
Rafiu disclosed that 10,000 policemen would pass out at the end of December 2022 and would be deployed to augment the police strength already on ground for the election duties.
“The Inspector General of Police on 1st November, 2022 in collaboration with MatchMakers International, a security consultancy company organized a retreat/conference for 162 senior police officers in Owerri, Imo State for 3 days. The retreat was tagged, ‘The imperative of Nigeria police strategic plan for peaceful elections.’
“The signing of a peace accord by political parties in Abuja is another strategy geared towards the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections,” he added.
Warning that the police would not tolerate any act that could jeopardize the peaceful conduct of the elections, the AIG said,” the Nigeria Police Force under the present IGP has been trying to make sure that all the stakeholders in the coming 2023 general elections conduct themselves well.
“Therefore, police are preaching and warning all stakeholders to make sure that the 2023 general election is conducted in a peaceful atmosphere. It has to be based on the rule of law and respect for human rights of every citizen in Nigeria.”
Earlier, Kwara State’s commissioner of police, Paul Odama, had reeled out the efforts of his men and officers at ensuring security of lives and property in the state.
Odama who said the command is understaffed with only 3,000 personnel, said with commitment of policemen in the state they have been able to police the state effectively, adding that incidents of kidnapping has been reduced to barest minimum as well as cultism.
He added that the command has been enjoying the support of the state government, especially in the provision of needed logistics that could aid their job, recalling that the government donated 10 patrol vehicles to the command.
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