By Hassan Zaggi
As the 2023 election draws near, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali, has, again, reassured Nigerians and the international community of the determination of the Force to guarantee fair and credible elections.
He gave the assurance at a meeting with strategic Police Officers in Abuja on Thursday.
The IGP, therefore, charged the men and officers of the Force to remain firm, professional, apolitical bearing in mind that they would be held accountable for your actions and inactions.
“I must remind you all that the Nigeria Police as the lead agency in the election security governance framework, your performance before, during and indeed, after the elections remains critical to the success of the exercise,” the IGP further charged men and officers of the Force.
He noted that in an effort to ensure the 2023 election is hitch-free, his management team have, in the past few weeks had an engagement with all registered political parties in the country and held engagement with heads of other sister security agencies.
According to the IGP: “My approach to the election security management operation is to adopt an all-inclusive, all strategic stakeholders strategy towards evolving a common front in the electoral governance duties.
“In furtherance to this I have held a meeting with the leadership of all the 18 registered political parties, INEC, Chief of Defence Staff, National Security Adviser, the Intelligence Community, and all other sister security agencies on 17th November, 2022.
“A follow-up strategic meeting was also held on 13th December, 2022 with the Heads of Operations drawn from the Military, the intelligence community and other sister security agencies.”
These engagements, the IGP explained, discussed issues relating to effective coordination and delivery of a credible electoral outcome ahead of the 2023 General Elections and the takeaways are being incorporated into our broad operational Action Plan with a view to coming up with an election security plan that will be potent enough to deter or bring anti-democratic elements to justice and keep the internal security order stabilized ahead of the election.
Baba Alkali, however, disclosed that the 2023 election seems to present what he described as complex challenges that will task the professionalism of the Force.
“Even now, the political space is already charged and made more complex with secessionist threats, political extremism, intolerance, and violence.
“Even more concerning is that some of these political-related threats are being encouraged by strategic state actors. The import of this is that, henceforth, we must deal with our routine crimes management mandates as well as politically motivated offences,” he stressed.
While thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for the encouragement, he appealed for support from the media and all critical stakeholders in order to achieve a successful election in 2023.
The IGP however, warned men and officers of the Force that the days of abuse of promotions were over, assuring that all promotions will be base on merit and seniority.
“Let me make it clear here that much as I acknowledge that special promotion could be desirable, my conviction is that in the overriding interest of the Force, it should be considered only in isolated and exceptional instances where the performances of the officers concerned are measurable and manifestly extraordinary as the case with the officers in Abia State that successfully busted the deadly trans-state bullion van armed robbery syndicate recently, all of whom have been approved for special promotion in acknowledgement of their gallantry, and professional excellence.
“It is, therefore, essential that you take this message back to personnel in your command that the days of abuse of the promotion process in the Force are over and it will be fruitless for any personnel to attempt to circumvent the professional order in relation to promotion under my watch.”
He revealed that within this year, a total of 34, 595 personnel across all ranks have been promoted, noting that: “We intend to sustain this policy in the coming Year.”
