Former Inspector General of Police and Chairman
of the Police
Service Commission (PSC), Alhaji Musiliu Smith, on
Wednesday stated that if the forth-coming general election must be adjudged
free, fair, credible and widely accepted, the personnel of the Nigeria Police
Force who are in the forefront of providing security must display a high level
of professionalism.
Smith, who maintained that adequate security is
crucial in delivering free and fair elections, said police personnel and other
security
agents deployed to guarantee peace and security
must prove themselves
capable of delivering on their task.
The former IG, who spoke at a security summit in
Abuja organised by the PSC in conjunction with the Nigeria Policing Programme
(NPP), warned that the commission would not hesitate to deal with any police officer
involved in electoral malpractices.
“No doubt, we cannot expect to have a successful
2019 elections where
professionalism, particularly on the part of the
men of the Nigeria
Police Force is not ensured and enhanced through a
framework that will
promote impressive performance and conduct.
“During the past general elections in Nigeria
whenever things do not
go so well, police conduct is often seen even if
erroneously as being
the reason for the flawed elections. However, when
elections are adjudged as free and fair, the police are hailed as being
professional
and doing a great job,” he said.
Smith said in realisation of the crucial role the
police play in
guaranteeing a successful election, the PSC has put
in place several
actions and activities aimed at ensuring that the
police provide
security in a manner that will enhance and
strengthen the country’s
democracy.
According to him, the commissioners of the Police
Service Commission
representing the geopolitical zones and vital
interests in the last
couple of weeks have been going around the country
meeting with men
and women of the Nigeria Police Force on how to
professionally secure
the forthcoming elections.
In addition, the former IG said the PSC is creating
awareness among
the electorate and Nigerians generally on what the
role of police
officers during the elections should be, noting
that the commission
would deploy monitors across the 36 states and the
Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) as well as the opening of dedicated
telephone hot
lines to enable citizens make prompt reports in the
event they
observed any misconduct by any police officer.
“The police Service Commission will in turn ensure
that such reports
are processed and sanctions meted out to any erring
officer if the
alleged act is proven."
In his remarks, Deputy Team Leader, Nigeria
Policing Programme (NPP),
Idris Bawa, said the summit was timely owing to the
importance of the 2019 elections to the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy.
He disclosed that his organization, working with
the PSC and the
Police Force is doing everything possible to
prepare the police
adequately for the elections.
“We have a deployment plan that has been developed;
we have done
threat assessment across the whole state working
with the Nigerian
police with other NGOs. All those flash points that
have been
identified, we are making deployment to see how
they can be checkmate,” he said.
All paramilitary organisations in the country were
represented at the security summit.
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