Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
As Nigerians go to polls today to elect the next president and National Assembly members to pilot the affairs of the country for the next four years, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, has lamented that anti-democratic conduct of some state governors and strategic political actors remained a challenge.
Baba disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the briefing of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on preparations for the 2023 general election.
He said as far as the election day was concerned, the police alongside other security agencies had made arrangements in a collaborated and synergised manner to ensure today’s election go on as planned.
The IGP said the police has established a cyber crime centre to monitor cyber threats in real time and to conduct social media analysis of key and non key players in the electoral process.
He added that the personnel to be deployed have a clear knowledge of their roles and ethical standard to carry out their duties, while assuring that the security challenges that have been identified would be managed.
Baba stressed that the analysis of the current security threats has reduced drastically compared to what the force recorded in the last one month.
He, however, admitted that activities of the separatist movement, especially the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) remained a challenge.
The IG added: “Activities of terrorists, bandits, and secessionist self actualisation elements, popularly known has IPOB/ESN still remain a challenge
“Political thuggery, inter-party crisis and intra-party violence still remain a challenge. Hate speeches, political intolerance, extremism and well as anti-democratic conduct of some of the state governors and other strategic political actors.”
