PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali, said on Thursday that 400,000 personnel of the various security agencies will be deployed during the February and March elections.
Baba also said to decisively curb vote buying in the forthcoming elections, the police are working closely with the various anti-graft agencies.
The Police chief said the synergy with the various anti-graft agencies will yield good results in this regard.
Baba was speaking at the 66th session of the State House briefings organized by the Presidential Media Team on Thursday.
On the personnel being deployed for the February 25 and March 11 polls,
the IGP said out of the number, the police will be providing over 300,000 the rest would be provided by other security agencies.
Baba, however, there were some potent threats to the successful conduct of the national elections which he identified as petrol scarcity and cash squeeze.
He expressed the hope that the situation would stabilize before the elections.
“We are very sure the situation of cash and petrol will stabilize before the conduct of the election.
“There is an intelligence unit already in place to track and apprehend those who may engage in vote buying and others who may want to disrupt the exercise,” he said.
The IGP, who used the occasion to address the nation about the level of preparedness of the police, said some measures had been put in place to ensure a hitch-free election.
“Even if the Police is synonymous with bribery, there are other agencies that will be on the look out even if the police compromise because they are ‘very corrupt’.
“The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other agencies can checkmate the issue of vote buying, but we believe that it is not everybody in the Police that is corrupt.”
According to the police chief, seminars and sensitization workshops have been mounted for their personnel on the upcoming elections and for them to see the exercise as a national call to duty.
He stressed: “We have done much in sensitizing our personnel to look at the assignment as a national call to duty and ensure that they do the right thing.
“We have also our men and other security agencies so that they will not be used to intimidate voters and that is why we are not even deploying armed security personnel to polling units.”
Baba warned his officers and men not to escort VIPs to polling stations on election days.
“It is a notorious fact that on election days VIPs are not to be escorted to polling units. VIPs are like every other persons and restriction of movement is for all, except for those who accredited to move around to monitor the exercise by INEC.”
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