Electoral violence, cultism: Police train 612 officers

Etim Ekpimah

The Nigeria Police Force has 612 officers across the six geo-political zones on effective strategies for combatting cultism, kidnapping, and electoral violence ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The training was organized by the Nigeria Police Force in collaboration with Wan Diyos Limited, a consulting firm.

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Tuesday, 31 January 2023, said renowned members of the academia and retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, DIG Hashimu Ibrahim Argungu (rtd) were resource persons.

“The training workshop which held between Saturday 7th January and Wednesday 18th January 2023, probed historical antecedents as well as contemporary issues and solutions to the challenges of cultism, kidnapping, and electoral violence.

“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, NEAPS, fdc, CFR, emphasized that the training is germane in light of the upcoming general elections to prepare officers to train their men on vibrant tactics to identify and decimate threats to election security management.

“The IGP also assured that the training and retraining of police personnel for election security management and professionalism, in all areas of modern policing, will be a continuous project even after the 2023 general elections.

The Inspector-General of Police charged the trainees to deploy the expertise gained from the workshop towards improved management of cultism, kidnapping and election-related violence even as he directed them to ensure the knowledge cascades to other officers and men serving in their respective stations/units for a wholistic approach to election security management during the 2023 general elections for free, fair, credible and acceptable elections,” he said.