‘Police operations based on 1946 structure’

The reason the Nigeria Police has been unable to provide adequate security for elections in the country, necessitating the need to involve the military and office of the National Security Adviser is because the force is still operating on its 1949 structure.

This was the submission of a former chairman of the Nigerian chapter of Transparency International, Maj. Gen. Ishola Williams (retd), while speaking at a post-election management review organised by the CLEEN Foundation on Monday in Abuja.

He further noted, that election security is not part of the business of the military or office of the NSA, even as called for the scrapping of the Ministry of Police Affairs and canvassed for the placement of the force under the Ministry of Interior for effective supervision.

According to him, “If well structured, Nigeria would have no problems with elections. States should organise their own polls, what is the business of INEC organising governorship elections? The Nigeria police is still based on 1949 structure and that is why it cannot provide election security.

Williams insisted that INEC erred by involving the NSA and soldiers in the 2015 polls, noting that in Ghana, for instance, there is a security coordinating committee that handles election security.

According to him, the allegations of rigging that trailed Ekiti and Osun governorship elections should not have happened, noting that the deployment of soldiers for the polls should not have been done since other security agencies were available to assist the police in supervising the election.

Williams’ submission was however countered by Prof. Okey Ibeanu from INEC, who argued that the electoral agency had a basis in law for allowing the military to take part in election security.

He also defended the NSA’s involvement in the elections, stressing that its role was to coordinate the advisory from the various security agencies in the country, noting that the deployment of soldiers was to deter political thugs from disrupting the polls.

The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, said there is a lot to be done in terms of organisation and securing the electoral process, adding that “this is the time to start planning for 2019 and other staggered elections like the governorship polls in Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Osun and Kogi States.”

Ripples… without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now