The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba has said that 10,000 additional officers currently being trained in police colleges nationwide would be deployed for the 2023 general elections. According to him, the newly trained police officers would graduate from the police colleges at the end of December and would be deployed to compliment the police strength already available for the upcoming elections.
This was disclosed in Ilorin, Kwara State on Thursday by the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Zone 8, Asafa Adekunle who represented the IGP at a lecture titled, ‘Engendering security and public safety among stakeholders towards peaceful 2023 general elections in Nigeria’ during the 12th convocation ceremony of Al-Hikmah University.
He said, “Police are engaging stakeholders in a series of meetings, seminars for them to know the importance of conducting the 2023 general elections in a peaceful atmosphere.
“On no account should personnel deployed to the inner ring of the venue of the political events or voting centre/polling booths be assigned lethal weapon, except baton. Involvement of the police at political gatherings shall be limited to the maintenance of peace and order and enforcement of extant laws. Officers shall at all times exercise maximum restrain while covering political gatherings.
“Stakeholders should encourage Nigerian youths to always explore dialogue and negotiations as strategies to achieve their goals rather than violence and destruction.
“All security personnel participating in the election should have the knowledge of election procedures at the venues.
“To ensure the public safety and peaceful conduct of 2023 general elections in Nigeria, all stakeholders like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), police force, political parties, civil society organizations, voters and the media need to play collaborative roles in preventing and reducing elections violence”.