IGP Usman Baba Alkali
‘Police have fully mobilised for 2023 election’ – IGP Baba, to deploy 310, 973 personnel to polling locations nationwide
Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, has stated that his personnel have fully mobilised adequate security for the smooth conduct of the 2023 General Election in the country.
IGP Baba, who disclosed this in Abuja, Thursday, during the weekly briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team, added further that over 300, 000 personnel of the force have been mobilized and would be deployed nationwide for the election.
“I am here to brief you on the state of preparedness of the Nigeria Police Force for the 2023 elections. As you are all aware, we are counting days for the 2023 general election to commence, particularly the presidential and National Assembly elections on the 25th of February.
“The Nigeria Police is galvanising the entire defence and security sector to ensure that we provide adequate security before, during and after the election to enable Nigerians exercise their franchise.
“In other words we are looking at the issue of political campaigns, rallies and processions that are going on now; the actual Election Day and also our level of preparedness could anything happen after the announcement of results.”
IGP Baba disclosed further that over 300, 000 police officers and men have been mobilized and would be deployed nationwide for the election.
“From INEC records, there exists 176, 846 polling units in 8809 wards of the 36 States of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where the elections will be conducted. The Nigeria Police with the support of other security agencies have perfected plans to deploy in a coordinated and collaborative manner to cover all these locations.
“In view of the above, the Nigeria Police will deploy 310, 973 personnel for the election security operations. This will comprise of conventional policemen, the mobile policemen, the special counter terrorism unit, the Special Forces, intelligence response team and other sections of the police. The manpower requirements for this exercise will be complimented by the military and other security agencies,” the Police Boss disclosed.
According to Baba Alkali, the Nigeria Police are focused on providing the needed secured atmosphere for the conduct of the election and a lot of tactical measures are being taken to ensure that.
“The Force has identified some major crimes like banditry and terrorism, majorly duplicated in the North-east geopolitical zone of the country, various secessionists’ campaigns by elements of the Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network who have been targeting the symbols of democratic governance including INEC assets, police stations and personnel including other military and other agencies as well as State government officials and traditional institutions all in an effort to disrupt the 2023 general elections.
“We also have this growing issue of misguided activities of Oduduwa Nation agitators who from intelligence sources of late, are also working attempting to destabilize the situation. We also have the issue of illegal small arms and light weapons trafficking which are being used to escalate the problem. “All of these challenges have the tendency to negatively impact the peaceful conduct of our democratic trajectory. Against this background the focus of the Force has been to upscale our operational activities to stabilize these situations in order to ensure that the election takes place,” he stated.
