Nigeria’s newly-appointed Inspector General
of Police, Solomo​n​ Arase, has pledged to hold
senior police
officers responsible for any breakdown of law
and order during rescheduled elections in
Taraba, Imo and Abia States on Saturday.
Governorship elections will hold in specific
areas of the three states after the Independent
National Electoral Commission declared the
April 11 elections inconclusive.
Mr. Arase, who was appointed on Wednesday
to replace Suleiman Abba, said the police were
doing everything possible to create an
enabling environment for the repeat elections.
He said the force would not allow anybody to
cause a breakdown of law and order in any of
the states.
Mr. Arase said that the force had already done
massive deployment of its officers, including
Deputy Inspector Generals of Police, Assistant
Inspector Generals of Police and
Commissioners of Police, to oversee the
elections in Yobe, Taraba and Imo.
“They are under strict directive that this time,
whatever lapses we have noticed in the
previous elections will not be tolerated this
time around.
“I am going to hold them personally liable if
they allow any breach or infringement of the
rules and what we have told them to do,’’ Mr.
Arase said.
Mr. Arase, who made the remarks during a visit
to the chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, on
Friday, said the police were already
investigating violent cases recorded during
both the presidential and the governorship
elections, adding that those involved in
criminal content would be prosecuted.
“Those that fall within the purview of INEC,
we are compiling them so that we can forward
them to you and also give you the platform to
ensure that this people are prosecuted no
matter the parties that are involved.
“I am sure that this will serve as a deterrent for
future elections so that we don’t have a
situation where people take the law into their
hands thinking that they can work away with it. I can assure
you of that,’’ Mr. Arase said.
He also said the police would dominate security space in
states where elections were going to take place.
“If anybody tests our will this time, we are going to deploy our
potent security assets to ensure that we don’t allow further
violence to take place,” he said.
The Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, urged the police to
enforce the movement restriction order in the affected states.
Mr. Jega said a situation in which high profile politicians
moved around with bodyguards, convoy and armed personnel
had to be stopped.
He said that most conflicts that occurred on election days were
attributable to these kinds of engagements.
“Obviously, some of the challenges we face in the past are
associated with the refusal of the political actors, candidates
and party and government officials to respect the rules of the
game.
“I will like to urge you to particular pay attention to the
phenomena of either government officials or candidates or
leading politicians moving around on Election Day.
“Two states in particular, Imo and Abia, these phenomena
were largely responsible for the crisis that we had during the
governorship and presidential elections.
“For these supplementary elections, we will like every
politician to respect the rule of the game and to obey the non-
movement order on election date,” Mr. Jega said.
The chairman said the commission had put in place
appropriate measures to ensure that the supplementary
elections were successful.
He said INEC had deployed key personnel from the
headquarters, including three National Commissioners and
Resident Electoral Commissioners to each of the states where
there would be supplementary elections.
“In addition to the National Commissioners and the RECs, we
have also deployed at least one supervisory staff from the
headquarters to each of the wards in these states.
“We are going to be very meticulous also in monitoring what
goes on in the field, pay attention to our staff and ad-hoc staff
to ensure that they discharge their responsibilities impartially,
competently and professionally.
“We believe that doing these will go a long way to ensuring
that things go well and also protect the credibility of the
supplementary elections,’’ he said.
Mr. Jega said that the commission looked forward to working
with the acting IGP and the Nigerian police for the successful
conclusion of supplementary elections as scheduled for
Saturday.
Mr. Jega, who congratulated the acting IGP on his
appointment, said he had no doubt that given his antecedent in
professionalism and confident, the relationship between
Nigerian police and INEC would grow from strengthen to
strength.
“In the cause of my tenure, I have worked closely with three
of your predecessors and we have received very good support
and cooperation of the Nigerian Police as the lead agency for
securing election,’’ he said. (NAN)