THE Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba has met with senior police officers to discuss the high level of electoral violence recorded during the just concluded general elections.
The meeting, which appraised security measures implemented during the polls, was held at the Goodluck Jonathan Peace Keeping Center, Force Headquarters, Abuja,
Senior officers in attendance include Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), Commissioners of Police (CPs) and others.
According to the PUNCH Newspaper, the agenda of the meeting includes general review of the elections, electoral offences and suspects detained during the elections, and reported and recorded cases of police misconduct.
Cases of violence were recorded nationwide during the just concluded 2023 general election.
The ICIR reported that the police arrested a Federal lawmaker in Kano State during the March 18 elections.
The Benue State Police Command also arrested 26 suspects over electoral violence during the governorship and state assembly elections held on Saturday, March 18.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) Catherine Anene on Monday, March 20.
In Dekna, Kogi State, during the elections, thugs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) attacked Polling Unit 25 and injured some INEC officials and a voter.
Some people also got injured when youths disrupted the election process at a polling unit in Nyong Nyong community of Plateau State’s Kanam Local Government Area.
Police officers arrested some of those causing the chaos and took them to Dengi Divisional headquarters, Kanam LGA.
In Akwa Ibom, arguments between two people led to the scattering and burning of electoral materials at Lutheran Primary School, Atai Nto Obo, Etim Ekpo, LGA.
Armed men also disrupted voting in Akinyele, Aguda Surulere, Lagos, housing polling units 081,082 and 083 and took away the ballot boxes and papers.
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations of electoral violence and bribery against state governors during the just concluded general elections.
The organisation, in a letter signed by its deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare on March 25, also urged the electoral body to “promptly and effectively investigate reports of electoral violence and other electoral offences committed during the general elections, and to identify suspected perpetrators and their sponsors, and ensure their effective prosecution, regardless of their political status or affiliations”.
A reporter with the ICIR
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