Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali, has assured Nigerians, especially residents of South-East zone, that elections will hold peacefully in the zone come 2023.
He gave the assurance during the opening ceremony of a One-Day “South-East 2023 Elections Security Management Workshop” held on Saturday in Enugu.
Represented by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, (Zone 9), Isaac Akinmoyede, Baba said that the police was building a robust synergy with other sister security organisations and formations to ensure that the 2023 election remained seamless and “very peaceful”.
“We are brainstorming together to fashion out ways to deal with existing and emerging security threats headlong within the South-East.
“It is clear that with robust synergy, cooperation and joint operations this area will be the most peaceful and our people will surely come out to exercise their civic responsibility.
“We are working relentlessly on the goal of ensuring that election holds in the South-East and people’s vote are secured and it will definitely count,” Baba said.
At the workshop organised by Solar security and consult company Ltd in conjunction with the Nigeria Police Force, the Consultant and former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon Arase, retired, said that the workshop was meant for all security agencies and formations in South-East to get them ready for the task of a peaceful, credible and hitch-free election in 2023.
According to him, the workshop would help to identify previous security gaps in election security as well as pin point task and responsibility of each security agency concerned about election.
“Security agencies have gathered here on how to study trends and patterns of crimes before and during elections and how effective to deal with it in a holistic and collaborative manner,” he said.
Speaking, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Abubakar Lawal Daura, urged the people of South-East and Enugu State not to express any fear about the 2023 election.
“2023 Election will hold and we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that. Our people should not entertain any fear or any opinion in the contrary,” he assured.
Declaring the workshop open, Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, thanked the Police for organising the workshop in Enugu.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Agriculture, Mike Ogbuekwe, Ugwuanyi expressed confidence that the outcome of the training will enhance security in the south east and the 2023 electoral process will be peaceful.
He noted that the political atmosphere was calm in Enugu and hoped that peace will be enjoyed again during electoral.process.
Goodwill messages were delivered by the Nigerian Army and Royal Father, Igwe (Dr.) Emmanuel Ugwu, Igwe Ibagwa -Nike, all commended the police for the workshop and urged that they hold similar workshop for sister security agents, traditional rulers, politicians and youths, to help in recording peaceful general elections in 2023.
The workshop was attended by the representatives of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Department of State Security and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Other are the Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Federal and State Fire Services, chairman , as well as National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, among others.
The workshop was initiated and organised by the IGP to further build the capacity of security agencies and their personnel concerned with election security.
