… urge severe punishment for perpetrators of electoral crime  

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun and other security agencies involved in conducting elections in Nigeria have been urged not to condone acts of violence but to ensure that culprits are brought to book.

The Executive Director of Centre for Transparency Advocacy, Faith Nwadishi, led the call during an anti-corruption radio program, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.

Nwadishi, who was reacting to a 10-month-long investigative report by the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), which found widespread incidents of brutality around the country during the 2023 presidential poll, urged IGP Egbetokun to ensure his men on the field curb election violence and irregularities in future polls.

She noted that the security of elections and electorates during elections falls squarely on the Nigeria Police first before any other security agencies, lamenting that over time, Police personnel on election duties have failed in this respect.

“Now that the President has given an extended tenure to the Inspector General of Police, The IGP should live up to his responsibility and ensure his people on the field do the same. There also should be better synergy between the security agents.

“The Police are the lead security agency that takes care of issues around electoral violence, ensuring that people who have come out to exercise their franchise do so in a peaceful environment.

“When you have an agency that has not lived up to its responsibility in such a case, you will have a breakdown of law and order, and there will be violence.“Somebody who is breaking the law on an election day or any other day is breaking the law, and it’s the responsibility of the security agents to bring that person to book.

“As an observer, you report an issue to the security agents on the ground, and they say they cannot do anything except that an INEC official who is busy reports. How is it possible? On an ordinary day, you can go to the police station and report a crime, and the criminal will be arrested. Why do we have to treat electoral crime differently? She questioned.

Nwadishi urged citizens to start calling out politicians who aid and abet electoral violence, as well as understand their powers and avoid being bought over with gifts. Adding that election umpires must also learn their lesson from previous polls. “The power of every election is in the hands of the citizens because you have your voters card, which is your power; INEC should learn from the lessons from the past and ensure that their ad-hoc staff are brought to book if they do the wrong things; and the politicians should know that the people they are paying money to cause mayhem are people’s children,” She advised. 

Similarly, the Abuja Bureau Chief, TheCable Online Newspaper, Yekeen Akinwale, said IGP Egbetokun-led Police is responsible for curbing election violence and irregularities threatening the country’s democracy. 

Akinwale noted that poor voter turnout during the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria was basically due to voter intimidation and suppression and acts of violence before and during polls. Advising police authority and other key players in elections on the need to curb violence and irregularities, he said: “It behooves the security agencies, the police that has the duty and responsibility of enforcing the law. 

“The electoral act is also clear about whoever incites violence or intimidates voters against exercising their rights. So, it is for us, the media, to point it out, and it is for the affected authorities to take decisive actions against those individuals when there is clear-cut evidence. People should be called to answer questions, and when they are found guilty, they should face the music. 

“Our ultimate goal is to have a better electoral process in the future. We want INEC to do better. We want the police to be able to do their work without hindrance. We also want people who have been found guilty to be charged in court and are prosecuted where found guilty. We want our judiciary to be able to hold people accountable so that when you make a scapegoat of offenders, it will serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders in the future,” Akinwale stressed. 

The Edo and Ondo States governorship elections are slated for September 21 and November 16, 2024, respectively. The Nigeria Police Force remains the lead security agency for elections and has announced the deployment of 35,000 personnel for the Edo governorship poll.

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