I’ve Ordered ‘Armed’ Policemen To Deal With Election Disruptors – IGP Mohammed

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has again warned that “armed” personal of the Force will be on ground to deal decisively with anyone caught trying to disrupt Nigeria’s rescheduled general elections.

IGP Mohammed issued the warning on Friday while fielding questions from an audience at the briefing of stakeholders by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

Advertisement

The police chief had recently warned that the force will comply fully with a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to “ruthlessly” deal with ballot snatchers in the elections.

While noting that armed policemen will not be at the polling units in order to avoid creating apprehension among electorate, IGP Mohammed said armed security officials will be on patrol to through the voting process to apprehend hoodlums who would want to disrupt the elections.

He said, “I’ve explained severally that [we must ensure] the security of the electorate, the observers, INEC staff and election materials are all secured.

“In the polling units, there will be security and at least three security personnel will be there to protect the electorate, INEC officials and also the election materials.

Advertisement

“The personnel that will be there [the polling units] will not be armed, so there will be no need for apprehension.

“While the election is going on, we may have some people who will want to disrupt the election process. We’ve put in place a strategy to stop that. We have tactical units of personnel and other security services that will be patrolling everywhere to make sure the process is not disrupted.

The police chief noted that, “Our personnel that will be patrolling will be armed and will deal with anybody that will want to disrupt the process. In the course of doing the voting, different electoral offences committed…we will work with INEC officials to apprehend culprits and we will set up an investigative team led by our Commissioner of Police in charge of legal investigate such case and prosecute them.

“Be it vote-buying, ballot box snatching, thuggery…if you commit that, you’ll be arrested and prosecuted. After the voting, movement of materials to the collation centres will also be protected.

“Even when the results are announced, those planning to disrupt or react…we’ve put strategies in place to prevent that,” said the IGP.

Leave a comment

Advertisement