Suleiman Abba, the inspector-general of police, is not disposed to the idea of staying to “protect” votes cast and has urged voters to go home after casting their votes next Saturday and on April 11.
According to Abba, who was speaking on Thursday at an INEC briefing with accredited observers for the 2015 general election, there will be enough policemen to protect votes, hence vote protection is will not be the responsibility of the electorate
“Two to three police officers will be attached to each polling unit, and we would provide more officers for the collation centres and for the managers of the elections,” he said.
“We will go on to protect the electorate. Every eligible voter should feel safe enough to cast his votes. We will be there to protect the votes and make sure no one disrupts the process.”
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Warning voters against waiting at polling units after casting their voters, he said: “Cast your votes and go and cool down. If you remain there, there is a likelihood that you will commit an offence.
“Asking voters to wait and protect their votes implies taking the law into their own hands. That is unacceptable.”
He urged political parties to abide by the electoral act, which stipulates “one agent to a polling unit”, adding that it is a waste of votes and resources having 30 agents from one political party at one polling unit.
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Abba also appealed to candidates in the elections to either accept the results when they are announced or resort to judicial means in expressing their dissatisfaction.
He said thuggery and violence would not be accepted, stating that the police would pursue every legal means to bring violators to justice.
Abba urged INEC to work at mitigating the delays experienced during elections, observing that there would be more delays now with the card readers.
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5 comments
Unless there is a law that prohibits waiting around, that is what electorates should do. The Nigerian police is not a neutral party in the elections and should not be trusted to be impartial and to guard the votes.
Funny man! who entrusts goats to keep guard over tubers of yam! Who entrusts poachers with the task of keeping the game? What integrity has the police under the man to be entrusted with such a task?
Why is his man changing the rules at this jury time? The rule is after voting wait until the votes are counted before you go. If the votes are not counted there, miracle can happen along the way where they will be counted. Somebody should talk to this man oh!
This IGP is a joker and day dreamer. He should tell his boss that we will stay and watch our votes counted. We cannot entrustour votes to a man who said he did not recognise the house of representatives speaker bcos he defected to another party.
The INEC regulations handbook states otherwise. In 2011, voters protected their votes and the results were heralded as good. We are already worried about the violence that the police is watching and being complicit about. IG should be more professional.