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2019 Polls: Anyone Who Tests Our Will Has Himself To Blame, New Police Boss Warns

Ag. IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu,

The new acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu has sounded a serious warning to politicians and their supporters not to test the will of his men and officers in the forthcoming elections.

The police boss, who held a conference with strategic police managers at the Force headquarters in Abuja today, Monday, remarked: “nobody should be in doubt as to the capacity and renewed determination of the Police to deal decisively with elements that attempt to test our will by engaging in political violence or other electoral offences, including vote buying which could threaten our democratic values.

He further warned that any citizen that intend to offer himself or herself to be used negatively as cannon folders for political actors should either have a rethink or be ready to face the consequences.

The police boss, tasked all commissioners of Police across all the 36 Police State Commands and the FCT to galvanize their personnel and mobilize logistics towards ensuring a peaceful and credible outcome of the general elections, adding that they are also tasked to identify possible threats.

He vowed to apply all legal and professional means to neutralize trouble makers ahead of the elections, adding that in order to ensure that offenders are conclusively brought to justice, the DIG FCIID has been directed to set up Special Election Investigation Teams (SEIT) that will be tasked with the exclusive functions of taking in custody and undertake detailed investigation of all arrested electoral offenders across the country.

“The Teams shall also liaise with the Independent National Electoral Commission towards the prompt processing of the casefiles of the offenders for prosecution.

He stressed that he had already laid out a number of engagements that are critical to the attainment of the election security mandate within the context of the Electoral Act.

“Within the past few days, I have received briefs from Heads of Departments and I have also attended the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) which was hosted by the National Security Adviser and which had all strategic leaders in the election security architecture in attendance.

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In addition, a capacity building training on democratic policing and elections security management for police officers is currently on-going. The training is designed to hold across the 12 Police Zonal Headquarters starting from today 21st January 2018 to 8th February, 2018. Prior to this the Office of the National Security Adviser had organized similar election security capacity building training for the Police and other security agencies.

“All these initiatives are part of the broad plans directed at ensuring quality security service delivery by the Police and other security agencies during the general elections.  Today’s meeting is another critical engagement in our resolve to develop an effective framework that will engender optimal police performance during the national exercise.”

Mohammed Adamu said that the strategic planning meeting was designed to achieve among others, undertake national security threat analysis and level of preparation for the elections at the State Command levels, discuss limitations and evaluate strategies towards managing the identified threats.

It is also designed to enable professional interaction between the Police, INEC leadership, and strategic partners across the country with a view to perfecting interventions that will aid in the attainment of our election security mandate as the lead agency in the election security management process.

“The credibility of any election is determined not just by the legal framework regulating it and the conduct of the actors within the process but by the extent of professionalism and operational competence displayed by the Police.

“Conscious of this reality, I assure the nation and the international community that the Nigeria Police Force shall coordinate effectively with other complementary security agencies, and collaborate efficiently with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission in guaranteeing a safe and secure space for the citizens to freely exercise their electoral franchise.”

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