Ahead of the general elections, the Inspector General of Force, Usman Baba, has set up an Election Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Team which will be deployed across all states of the federation.
The team is tasked to identify, analyse and mitigate threats, as well as carry out on-the-spot assessment and appraisal of the security emplacements ahead of the 2023 general elections.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday and shared on the official Facebook page of the NPF, the creation of the team is in line with the IGP’s drive for a safe, secured, and credible general elections as well as provision of adequate security coverage before, during and after the 2023 general elections.
The statement signed by the Force’s Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi announced the appointment of the Vice President (INTERPOL) and Head, National Crime Bureau, AIG Garba Umar, psc, as the National Coordinator.
He will be assisted by the AIG Force Secretary, AIG Habu Sani, CP Election Monitoring, CP Basil Idegwu, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi. The team also comprise 7 other Commissioners of Police, 15 Deputy Commissioners of Police, 30 Assistant Commissioners of Police, 30 Chief Superintendents of Police, and 16 Strategic Officers of other ranks.
The release partly reads, “The IGP, while reiterating the commitment of the Police to ensuring that the elections are safe, secure, credible, and in line with global best practices, tasked the team to, amongst other things, ensure the propriety of deployments, give real-time coverage of the electoral process, and safeguard against hostile external and internal influence using INTERPOL, anti-cybercrime and intelligence tools and assets of the Nigeria Police Force.
“In the same vein, the IGP reaffirms the establishment and viability of the Electoral Offences Desks domiciled at the State Criminal Investigation Departments (SCID) of all commands across the nation headed by the Assistant Commissioners of Police in charge of the SCID. The Electoral Offences Desk is saddled with the responsibility of collating, investigating and prosecuting all matters relating to electoral offences nationwide.
“The Inspector-General of Police, therefore, calls on well-meaning Nigerians, international communities, and all stakeholders to support the NPF teams in all areas, particularly on intelligence sharing and regular engagements, to achieve success in the 2023 General Election.”