The inspector-general of police, IGP Usman Baba, has warned all criminal elements attacking the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across the country to desist forthwith as the Nigeria Police Force will no longer allow such attacks.
This is even as the IGP reassured that the Force would in collaboration with other sister security agencies ensure free, fair, and credible polls come 2023 as promised by President Mohammed Buhari.
The IGP, who stated this at a meeting with strategic Police officers from the ranks of Commissioners of Police and above at the Force headquarters in Abuja ahead of the 2023 general elections, said “enough is enough” of such barbaric act as it would no longer be business as usual for the criminal elements.
He stated that, “the Nigeria Police has the requisite human capacity in terms of experience, strength of character, and professionalism to surmount the current and evolving challenges ahead of the general elections.
“The meeting is being convened to evaluate our performance in the outgoing year; dissect operational challenges in relation to our policing mandate; review and perfect our election security governance plans, ahead of the 2023 general elections; and collectively set our policing goals as we usher in the Year 2023.
“The outgoing year presented sets of security challenges which at some point evolved to threaten the security order and national cohesion of the country.”
Speaking on the measures to curtail the incessant attacks on the INEC facilities, the IGP added, “we have put measures in place to prevent future occurrences, apprehend the culprits, and to bring the culprits to book
“We have also deployed personnel to deter the attacks. We have stepped up intelligence gathering. We have discovered that the criminal elements were using petrol bombs, dynamite at gunfire at distance to carry out their dastardly acts, but there will be hiding place for them. The Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies are on the top of the situation. We are calling on the members of the public to assist us with credible information about these criminals.”
