Gombe State Police Community Relations Committee has organized a
One-day Sensitization Workshop for security agencies and stakeholders
for the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming Local Government Councils
Election, scheduled for December 19, 2020.
The Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Kabiru Ibn. Mohammed, said the
PCRC was a bridge builder between the police and the public to ensure
that activities in the state were conducted in peace, which was
essential for the public to understand its position on peace building
in the society.
Alhaji Kabiru said local government elections were elections that
directly touch the lives of the people at the grassroots and that had
become imperative to sensitize them on their role to ensure the
peaceful conduct of the forthcoming election.
The Charmian of the PCRC in Gombe State said political parties, which
were sometimes blamed for instigating violence during elections, were
being represented at the forum, through the Inter-Party Advisory
Committee and would take back the message sent from the forum to
participating parties and candidates.
The event brought together security stakeholders, ranging from the
Police, Correctional Service, Directorate of State Security, as well
as the traditional and religious institutions in the state.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Force CID Annex in Gombe State,
Mr. Asuquo Amba, who served as the Chairman of the Occasion, said the
police was prepared to provide adequate security during the Saturday
Local Government Council Election.
Mr. Amba, however, said it was needful to sensitize the public on
laws regarding elections, so that the public would be better informed
on where to register its grievances and prevent violence before,
during and after elections.
He urged the public to return to the basics of community policing,
where everyone in the community is known and suspicious faces are
reported to relevant authorities.
He urged the public to hold elected officials accountable.
For the Comptroller in charge of Operations, Correctional Services,
Mr. Mohammed Sharu Ndabawa, security operatives should ensure that
they remain bias-free and that the interest of the people placed above
any other considerations, so as to overcome security challenges during
elections.
According to him, security agencies should ensure orderly, peaceful
conduct of elections at polling units and the transmission of election
results and materials to the relevant authorities.
The Deputy Director Director, Operations, Directorate of State
Security, Mr. Zaiyanu Ibrahim, focused on the role of politicians in
ensuring peaceful conduct of elections, because some of them take
advantage of vulnerable youths in the society and induce them with
illicit drugs to perpetrate violence.
Consequently, Mr. Ibrahim urged the public not to hesitate in
reporting politicians who engage these youths to foment violence and
that illicit drugs dealers should equally be reported to relevant
authorities, which would eliminate drug use among the youths.
He also called on the politicians to know the repercussion of
drug-induced violence during elections, which would make the polity
ungovernable to them as well.
