2019 Buhari Orders Police, Security Agencies to Ensure Violence-free Election

 

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Kano directed security agencies in the country to stop ballot snatching and related crimes in the 2019 general election.

Speaking in Kano during the passing-out ceremony of 602 Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) graduands at the first regular cadet course, Buhari charged them to use their acquired knowledge in modern policing to not only battle crime but  to wipe out security threats in the country.

 The president, cautioning the officers to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the law and international best practices, however, called on them not to circumvent the rules of the laws or succumb to financial or material benefits while performing their statutory functions.

“Police must work in partnership with members of the public and desist from extrajudicial killings as well as avoid unnecessary torture of suspects until and unless cases are proven beyond reasonable doubt. Truth is constant and will prevail no matter how long it takes. Be above board and be contented with your salaries and that is why my government recently increased your emoluments so as not to fall prey to financial misconduct.

''Let me remind you that this administration has zero tolerance level for corruption. You should shun corruption and collaborate with other security agencies to stop it before corruption takes over Nigeria. Try by all means to help arrest and prosecute law violators, no matter how highly placed they are in the society. It is my desire to make Nigeria police technologically-based and professionally innovative,” he said.    

Buhari said: “You should know that the law has no respect of anybody, and anyone found guilty against the country's law should be dealt with so as to ensure peace and stability in the country.

“While discharging your duties, you will encounter with all sorts of threats and inducement, but you should shun it and be rigid to anybody who approaches you with any motive to break the rules, however, you should also uphold stable position to law and order."

According to the president, the 2,000 police officers dispatched to Northeast was to compliment other security agencies and ensure peace and stability in the region and the country, adding that the activities of Boko Haram have been curtailed, “the group is no longer occupying any Nigerian territory as it used to be before the advent of this administration.”

The attacks by the Boko Haram can be linked to attempt of a defeated insurgents to organise its ragtag and scatter individuals; this, however, “could not be possible as adequate strategic plans have been put in place in conjunction with our neighboring countries to completely wipeout the group.”

In his remarks, the Commandant of the Nigeria Police Academy, AIG Yakubu O Jibiril, said the police should not be seen to be above the law, warning that anybody found breaking the law would face the full wrath of the law.

The Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Dambazau, commended the president for carrying out entire reform of the police academy across the country, adding that the passing out cadets should bring their practical knowledge to bear in the larger society.