The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Kogi and Kwara States, Babatunde Ishola, has charged political actors in Kogi state to have a positive attitudinal change that would guarantee a peaceful, free, and fair election coming up on November 2023.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Ishola gave the charge on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ meeting on peace and security in Lokoja.
He said that the Nigeria Police Force would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring that the election is free of violence.
He advised politicians to sensitise their members and supporters to refrain from violence and warned that anyone who perpetrated electoral violence would be apprehended and prosecuted.
Ishola also charged political parties to base their campaigns on issues that would promote their images before the electorate and urged them to desist from using vulgar language that could pave the way for violence during campaign exercises.
“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 Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Akeem Yusuf, described the theme of the meeting, “Strengthening community engagement towards a violence-free November 2023 governorship election,” as strategic and timely.
Yusuf said that the meeting was meant to address the misfortune that most often resulted in violence and the 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.
Yusuf also urged the stakeholders to use the meeting as a wake-up call to the community leaders, party leaders, and religious leaders and urged them to be prepared to rise to the occasion with maximum commitment for a violence-free election in Kogi State.
He said that the police command, in conjunction with other security agencies, would 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.
