2023 general elections: IGP meets with heads of operations, others

Babatunde Williams

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, CFR, on Tuesday met with heads of operations of national security agencies on how to hold free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria in 2023.

President Muhammadu Buhari was said to have charted the course of leaving a legacy of a deepened democratic system and credible electoral process before leaving office, hence the Abuja stakeholders meeting to concretise the president’s objectives.

At the meeting which held at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, the IGP emphasized the need to enhance actionable intelligence gathering and sharing, coordinated operations, and adequate deployment of personnel and resources by all relevant security agencies and stakeholders in the election process.

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Tuesday, noted that the IGP called on the Nigeria Police spokespersons, at the 2022 Police Public Relations Officers’ Conference currently ongoing in Ibadan, Oyo State, to develop and implement a productive Strategic Communication Action Plan that will give leverage to the already established operational drives of the Police to have a free, fair and credible election in 2023.

The IGP, who spoke through the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, admonished the Police PROs to exhibit their skills in strategic communication to stem the pockets of electoral conflicts and violence being experienced across the country, as such could be a general panacea for security challenges in Nigeria.

The PPROs Conference themed: ‘Strengthening Strategic Communication Towards Police Reforms, Security and Integrity of 2023 Election’, with the opening ceremony held at Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan on Monday 12th December 2022, will come to a close on Thursday 15th December 2022, with a gala night at the same venue.