The Nigeria Police Force says it has fully mobilised adequate security for the smooth conduct of the 2023 general election.
Inspector General of Police, Usama Alkali made this position known in Abuja on Thursday, at the weekly briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
He said: “I am here to brief you on the state of preparedness of the Nigeria Police Force for the 2023 elections. As you are all aware, we are counting days for the 2023 general election to commence, particularly the presidential and National Assembly elections on the 25th of February.
“The Nigeria Police is galvanising the entire defence and security sector to ensure that we provide adequate security before, during and after the election to enable Nigerians exercise their franchise.
“In other words we are looking at the issue of political campaigns, rallies and processions that are going on now; the actual Election Day and also our level of preparedness could anything happen after the announcement of results.”
Over 300 thousand police
He said over 300 thousand police officers and men have been mobilized and would be deployed nationwide for the election.
“From INEC records, there exists 176, 846 polling units in 8809 wards of the 36 States of the federation including the Federal capital Territory where the elections will be conducted. The Nigeria Police with the support of other security agencies have perfected plans to deploy in a coordinated and collaborative manner to cover all these locations.
“In view of the above, the Nigeria Police will deploy 310, 973 personnel for the election security operations. This will comprise of conventional policemen, the mobile policemen, the special counter terrorism unit, the Special Forces, intelligence response team and other sections of the police. The manpower requirements for this exercise will be complimented by the military and other security agencies,” the Police Boss disclosed.
Tactical measures
Alkali disclosed that the Nigerian Police is focused on providing the needed secured atmosphere for the conduct of the election and a lot of tactical measures are being taken to ensure that.
“The Force has identified some major crimes like banditry and terrorism, majorly duplicated in the North-east geopolitical zone of the country, various secessionists’ campaigns by elements of the Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network who have been targeting the symbols of democratic governance including INEC assets, police stations and personnel including other military and other agencies as well as State government officials and traditional institutions all in an effort to disrupt the 2023 general elections.
“We also have this growing issue of misguided activities of Oduduwa Nation agitators who from intelligence sources of late, are also working attempting to destabilize the situation. We also have the issue of illegal small arms and light weapons trafficking which are being used to escalate the problem. “All of these challenges have the tendency to negatively impact the peaceful conduct of our democratic trajectory. Against this background the focus of the Force has been to upscale our operational activities to stabilize these situations in order to ensure that the election takes place,” Alkali stated.
Contain any ugly situation
The Police Boss also stated that the force has made plans to contain any ugly situation that might arise in any part of the country after the announcement of election results.
To avoid any situation that will warrant any act of compromise among its personnel, the Inspector General said the welfare of the policemen will be well taken care of, with strict supervision of their activities during the election, to enhance their efficiency.
Lateefah Ibrahim
