Barely six weeks to the general elections, campaigns have taken a full measure and different dimensions have been taken by aspirants of various political positions both in the state and federal levels.
In line with this, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, had on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 maintained that the command will not tolerate any breach of the electoral rules as stipulated in the Electoral Act.
He made this disclosure during the declaration of the position of both public organisations at a workshop for the training of security agencies where he stressed that the force would ensure maximum discipline on politicians since the law places equality on all and sundry.
The training for the officers who according to INEC is about 50, is supposed to trickle down to officers in the rank and file.
The Police, Immigration, Prisons, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Directorate of State Services (DSS) were among the security agencies at the training.
Representing the Inspector General of Police, the commissioner of police in charge of election monitoring, Mohammed Ghanzali, said, “If you (political actors) commit any offence, the agencies here will go back and ensure they cascade what they have learnt here today and you will be arrested and dealt with accordingly. Politicians must play by the rules.”
“The only thing is that we are going to deal with anybody that thinks he is above the law. Politicians should obey the rule of the law.”
He said, “We are to make sure that we secure the area as the leading agency for election. We have nothing to say other than for them to obey the law. If they don’t obey the law, we will deal with them in accordance with the law.”
He added that the number of police officials that would be deployed during the general elections will be determined by the polling units and the security agencies available.
In response to the assertion that the police was partisan and supported the ruling PDP, he said, “The police can never be partisan that is why we are here as the leading agency to ensure that we secure the area. If they want the police to be partisan, they would not have been called to ensure the security of the area.
“All those that are voting have the party they want to vote for. So they have sympathy for the parties they want to vote for. We are just there to ensure there is law and order and that every stakeholder plays by the rules.”
