With just few days to the Ekiti state gubernatorial election, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has charged the Nigerian police to maintain proper conduct during the electoral exercise.
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See full statement below:
AN ADDRESS BY IGP USMAN ALKALI BABA, PSC(+), NPM, fdc, THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE AT COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, ADO-EKITI, EKITI STATE ON TUESDAY, 14TH JUNE, 2022 ON THE FORTHCOMING EKITI STATE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION
My dear Officers, I am pleased to address you today ahead of the Ekiti State gubernatorial election. As you must be aware, by virtue of the Electoral Act, the Nigeria Police Force is the lead agency in the election security management framework. In essence, our conduct could have an amplifying effect on the credibility of the electoral process.
2. This explains why the attention of the nation and indeed, the international community is often particularly focused on the performance of the police in the electoral process. The Ekiti election will certainly not be different as our professionalism and patriotism will, once again, be put to test and subjected to public scrutiny.
3. In this regard, you should all note that our mandate includes working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in creating a conducive and enabling environment that will guarantee the peaceful conduct of the elections. We are also statutorily charged with the responsibility of securing INEC personnel, electoral materials, and other critical assets of the Commission as well as the electorates and the local and international observers. In carrying out our duties under the Electoral Act, we should be mindful not to abandon our routine, primary mandate of guaranteeing security within the public space so that criminal elements do not feast on our electoral engagement to have space for their heinous crimes.
4. In essence, our roles in Ekiti at this period are twofold. First is to police the electoral process in conjunction with our friendly Forces which include the Military, DSS and other sister security agencies. Second is to police the public space and ensure that criminals are deterred from perfecting their ignoble trade. It is in furtherance to this that I am here to personally encourage, inspire and motivate you towards appreciating the task ahead and how much the nation looks up to you to guarantee the credibility of the outcome of the elections.
5. I have during my earlier interaction with the stakeholders vouched on your behalf that you shall all be apolitical, firm, and professional in the discharge of your election security mandate. I also assured them that while we shall be civil enough to protect the law-abiding citizens, we shall also be decisive in dealing with any political and subversive deviants that may test our will by attempting to disrupt the peaceful order during the election.
6. Beyond securing the public space all through the electoral process, you shall be deployed to adequately police the one hundred and seventy-seven (177) Wards and two thousand four hundred and forty-five (2,445) Polling Units spread over the sixteen (16) Local Government Areas of the State. You shall also be utilised to protect the personnel, materials and facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the electorates, and residents of Ekiti State in general before, during and immediately after the elections.
7. In the performance of your duties, you are to be conscious of the fact that you shall be complemented by personnel from other security agencies and the Military. Hence, I encourage you to cultivate the culture of inter-agency respect, trust, and cooperation. I charge you to maintain political neutrality and resist any temptation that could betray your professional calling or threaten the democratic process.
8. In addition, you should be guided by your Oath of Office and allegiance to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and you should conduct yourselves within the framework of the Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement for Security Personnel on Electoral Duty as developed and approved by the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
9. On my part, I assure you that your welfare remains of paramount priority to me. As such, I have directed the prompt payment of your duty tour and feeding allowances. Drawing on the experiences of the past exercises in which issues develop that delay the payments of your entitlements, I can assure you that appropriate safeguards have been emplaced this time around to ensure that you all get your payments directly into your accounts promptly. I shall personally monitor the payment process to ensure full compliance with my directives in this regard.
10. Meanwhile, in the performance of your election security duties, please be guided by the following Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Agents:
- Prevent abuse of fundamental human rights and misuse of powers
- Ensure safe conduct of electoral activities;
- Ensure the security and safety of all involved in electoral activities
- No un-authorized item of accoutrement/kit, like cudgel, horsewhip, etc. shall be carried by any personnel on election duty
- At no time will personnel deployed to Polling Units be allowed to bear firearms.
- Pocket notebooks shall be carried where important incidents encountered during tours of duty can be noted, in view of the fact that all security personnel can be personally summoned to account for their actions/inactions while on election duty.
- Every use of lethal weapons MUST be authorized by designated commander.
- Excessive use of force is strictly prohibited.
- Be at alert at all times;
- Be approachable by all members of the public;
- Exhibit a high degree of professionalism;
- Be mindful of the duty imposed upon them by law to protect all against illegal acts and dispense their duties without discrimination based on gender, race, religion, colour, sex, creed, associations of affiliations;
- Be duty bound to render assistance to those in need of such, especially the vulnerable persons.
- Malingering is strictly prohibited while on duty. Officers shall be attentive at all times and avoid getting distracted by gossips with colleagues. The use of mobile phones and the soliciting for food or any other items are also strictly prohibited.
Although we have made adequate strategic deployment towards mitigating the identified threats to this election, I wish to admonish you to prioritise your personal safety in the discharge of your election security duties. Indeed, to enhance your knowledge on election security operations ahead of the upcoming 2023 General Elections and other future elections, I have approved the organisation of an Election Security Management Training for you all.
The proposed training will hold across the six (6) Geo-Political zones of the country and will commence in the North-Central Zone on 4th August, 2022 in Abuja. Subsequently, other geo-political zones will host the training which is designed as a Train-the-Trainer programme. The nomination for the training will soon commence and I encourage you to leverage on the opportunity to sharpen your professionalism in relation to elections security operations.
On this note, I thank you all for your loyalty, dedication, and commitment to safeguarding our democratic values. I pray that Almighty Allah (SWT) should protect you all, as you sacrifice for the good of our beloved country.
14. Thank you all, for your rapt attention.
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