By Alltimepost.com
ABUJA – Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), a leading Non-Governmental Organization in Nigeria has taken a swipe at the Nigeria police over election comments by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba and said Nigerians do not trust the security Agency to protect their votes.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, recently warned voters to go back to their homes after casting their votes on election days.
The IGP, who addressed accredited observers for the general elections in Abuja, said “the possibility of committing electoral offence was very high if voters stayed back at the polling booths for votes to be counted.”
He stated that the police “will be there to protect the votes and make sure no one disrupts the process.”
In a swift reaction in Abuja recently on behalf of the organization, ANEEJ Executive Director Rev. David Ugolor condemned the IG’s comments and expressed lack of confidence in the ability of the agency to protect Nigerian votes.
“Interesting as the assurances of the Inspector General of Police could be, Nigerians do not trust the officers and men of Nigerian police as the institution’s top brass have operated like people already compromised.”
He cited what ANEEJ described as various allegations of foul play on the part of the police against the opposition political parties in the country to buttress its point:
“Assistant Inspector General of Police, Joseph Mbu had said the police will kill 20 civilians if one police man/woman is killed during the elections
“Why should the Inspector General of Police be afraid of threat by some persons to declare
results different from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when the laws of the land empower only INEC to declare results of the country’s general elections?,” ANEEJ queried.”
The current situation, Ugolor said was not without precedents, citing instances from the past, where according to him, citizens voted and stayed to hear the results and the sheets pasted on the walls of the polling units as was the case in the 2011 election with nobody causing any trouble.
Continuing, Ugolor made reference to the last Edo and Ondo Governorship elections as good examples of where people stayed and defended their results without any incident of citizens taking the law into their own hand as the police chief fears or would want people to believe.
“Staying to defend your vote gives credibility to the process because it will be obvious to both the winners and losers of their performance.
“Major reason politicians tell citizens to cast their votes and wait to have their votes counted and defend them is because they do not trust the current police leadership to do so on their behalf.”
The organization further cited Instances where the police and some security agencies connived with politicians to undermine the democratic process.
“A typical example is the last Ekiti State Governorship election where there are evidences of how the security operatives worked with the ruling party to undermine the outcome of the election and the only solution to forestalling a repeat of such an unholy alliance against the wishes of the people is to advise citizens to vote and defend their votes.”
It is ‘win win’, Rev. Ugolor stated, for both the citizens and the police, questioning government’s rationale for drafting the Nigerian Armed Forces into providing security during elections.
“Is it not because the Nigeria Police Force has either abdicated its responsibility or that it lacks what it takes to provide security for the elections in the country?,” ANEEJ asked.
“Drafting the military into the conduct of elections is undemocratic but Nigeria is constrained to do so because of the weakness of our police. Therefore, telling Nigerians to vote and go to their homes amounts to taking the first step to rigging the elections.
“The police must maintain an apolitical position because there are speculations of a grand design to rig the upcoming elections which Nigerians are determined to resist. The Police must not be seen to be executing a prepared script at this point in time,” he warned.
ANEEJ urged the police to play an apolitical role in the upcoming general elections and warned the security agency’s leadership not to pit itself against the Nigerian people whose taxes sustain the institution.
