The two agencies responsible for public policing have set up strategies and directives on how to ensure proper policing during the forthcoming elections.
The Police Service Commission, PSC, and the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, have major roles to play during the elections and are they say they are prepared to ensure that they fulfill their mandates and that the officers and men perform to the best expected of them. But their tasks are different – while the Nigeria Police will work towards policing the nation, the PSC is set to monitor the conduct of policemen, women and officers during the elections.
Two days ago, the PSC announced that it was set to monitor the conduct of policemen in all the 774 local governments in the country and it will hold the Police accountable for any action or inaction, because according to the commission, the success of elections largely depends on police conduct.
The general elections hold on Saturday, February 25th and Saturday, March 11th 2023.
The Commission is a Federal Executive body and has the constitutional mandate to discipline and exercise control over Officers of the Nigeria Police Force, except the Inspector General of Police who is responsible to the President.
The Commission says it will monitor the conduct of these Officers to ensure that they operate within defined rules of engagement prescribed for officers on election duties. The Commission says it “believes that the success or not of the 2023 general elections largely depends on how effective and efficient the Police, the lead Agency in internal security are, and to maximize the benefits of inter-agency collaboration with sister security Agencies.”
Guidelines on Police conduct during the elections are expected to be released soon by the Commission to guide policemen and women who will be involved in election security. The Commission will also release dedicated telephone numbers where Nigerians will be required to call to complain or commend police officers during the elections.
It says police officers found negligent or directly involved in official misconduct would be disciplined in line with the provisions of the law. The Commission advised police officers to restrict themselves to providing security during the elections and should not engage in serving as ‘conductors for vote buying or other misconducts.’
The Commission says it will continue to hold the police accountable for its conduct or misconduct during the elections as its contribution to deepening the nation’s democracy.
The NPF has also announced its own set of activities and directives to officers and men before and during the general elections. To the end, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has approved the setting up of an Election Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Team for deployment across the states of the federation, to identify, analyze and mitigate threats, as well as carry out on-the-spot assessment and appraisal of the security emplacements ahead of the general elections.
The initiative is described as being “in furtherance of the drive for safe, secured and credible general elections as well as ensure adequate security coverage before, during and after the 2023 general elections.”
The Vice President (INTERPOL) and Head, National Crime Bureau (NCB), AIG Garba Baba Umar, has been appointed as the National Coordinator of the team of experienced and seasoned Police Officers with vast knowledge in election security management, to be assisted by other team members including the AIG Force Secretary, AIG Habu Sani, CP Election Monitoring, CP Basil Idegwu, and the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi. The team also comprises seven other Commissioners of Police, 15 Deputy Commissioners of Police, 30 Assistant Commissioners of Police, 30 Chief Superintendents of Police and 16 Strategic Officers of other ranks.
Force PRO Adejobi said in a statement that the IGP, while reiterating the commitment of the Police to ensuring that the elections are safe, secure, credible, and in line with global best practices, tasked the team to, amongst other things, ensure the propriety of deployments, give real-time coverage of the electoral process, and safeguard against hostile external and internal influence, using INTERPOL, anti-cybercrime and intelligence tools and assets of the Nigeria Police Force.
Adejobi said the IGP also reaffirmed the establishment and viability of the Electoral Offences Desks domiciled at the State Criminal Investigation Departments, SCID, of all commands across the nation, headed by the Assistant Commissioners of Police in charge of the SCID. The Electoral Offences Desk is saddled with the responsibility of collating, investigating and prosecuting all matters relating to electoral offences nationwide.
The Inspector-General called on well-meaning Nigerians, the international community and all stakeholders to support the NPF teams in all areas, particularly on intelligence sharing and regular engagements, to achieve success in the 2023 General Elections.
