Following alarm raised about threats to the 2023 elections, the Inspector General of police Usman Baba Alkali has met with
leaders of 18 political parties that will participate in the polls.
The meeting which took place at the Force Headquarters Abuja was convened to avoid electorate violence before, during and after the elections.
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Speaking before the meeting went into a closed door session, Alkali said it is to address threats noticeable in the electoral process
before they degenerate.
Publisher, FrankTalkNow.Com, Olabisi Deji-Folutile speaking on Journalists’ Hangout on Thursday said the meeting is very important especially from what we have seen in the past few days.
According to Mrs Deji-Folutile, the country has witnessed a lot of violence since September 28th when the space became open for political campaigns.
Since September 28th when the space was open for political campaigns we’ve witnessed a lot of violence.
Election has not started and we have witnessed this level of violence. One can predict that this kind of thing can only go on
except it is nipped in the bud which the Inspector Geeral of Police in my opinion.
She added that there is need for increased surveillance on the parts of the security operatives.
It is very difficult to guard all INEC premises because we don’t have such manpower, unfortunately we are not making use of
technology to fight insecurity otherwise we could with ordinary CCTV probably discovered when some of these actions are about to happen and effect arrest.
Perpetrators need to be arrested and brought to book it we need to otherwise there is the likelihood of others continuing is
higher.
Beyond just calling people, security agencies need to be more proactive in the protection of INEC facilities.
Speaking further, Mojeed Jamiu, Executive Editor, Upshot media said the situation is quite worrisome.
He noted that when the field was opened by INEC on September 28th, the following day September 29, the interagency consultative
committee invited all the 18 political parties where they all signed a peace Accord.
“It was as if the peace accord was just on paper.
The IGP at the meeting with the major stakeholders in the 18 political parties with security agencies identified three main
sources of this political violence which are;
First is the direct attack on INEC offices. This has been happening in the East but it has now been brought to the Southwest where INEC offices in Ogun and Osun were attacked.
Secondly, the inter-party conflict.
Thirdly which is very terrible that there’s where APC would fight little or nothing INEC and government has been able to do
that about, which is the influence of some Governors that will not allow the pasting of posters or banners by some other opposition parties. It shows that you’re trying to crowd out others.
These are the kind of things that the IGP mentioned that we should encourage political tolerance.
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