Ahead of the 2023 governorship election in Kogi State, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) zone 8 in charge of Kogi and Kwara police command Babatunde Ishola
has charged political actors in the state to have positive attitudinal change that would guarantee peaceful, free and fair conduct of the election.
He gave the charge on Wednesday at the headquarters of Police Command in Lokoja during stakeholders meeting on peace and security towards toward November 2023 governorship election.
AIG Ishola stated that the Nigeria Police Force would not leave any stone unturned but ensuring that the forthcoming governorship election is free of violence and assured that men and officers of Nigeria police force would be deployed to every polling unit to avert any possible snatching of boxes and to also provide protections for the eligible voters.
He advised politicians to sensitize their members and supporters, noting that whoever perpetrated electoral violence would be apprehended and prosecuted.
“There should be no violence of any form either before, during and after elections, no destruction of billboards, posters of political parties, no snatching of ballot boxes during elections” he warned.
The AIG charged political parties to base their campaign on issues that would promote their images before the electorate and urged them to desist from using vulgar language that can pave the way for violence during campaign exercises.
In his speech, the Commissioner of Police Kogi State command CP Akeem Yusuf described the theme of the meeting “Strengthening community engagement towards a violet free November 2023 governorship election” as strategic and timely.
The Commissioner of Police said the meeting which was organized by the AIG zone 8 office in collaboration with Kogi State Police Command was meant to address the misfortune that most often resulted to violence and killing of innocent citizens during elections.
He charged political parties and their candidates to rise to the challenge of ensuring unity, peace and mutual respect for one another irrespective of political, ethnic and religious diversities.
The Commissioner of Police who also charged the stakeholders to use the meeting as a wake-up call to the community leaders, party leaders and religious leaders, urged them to be prepared to rise to the occasion with maximum commitment for violence-free election in Kogi state.
“At the command level and in conjunction with other security agencies, we will adopt a robust and elaborate security arrangement to ensure adequate security for all political parties in the ongoing political rallies and campaigns across the state” he stated.
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