Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Inspector General of Police(IGP), Mohammed Adamu, yesterday, met with members of the Nigeria Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) Situation Room team led by Clement Nwankwo to brainstorm on the conduct of peaceful gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo states.
At the meeting held at the Police Force Headquarters, Abuja, the IGP while acknowledging the contributions of CSOs as key actors in electioneering processes, said the meeting was necessary given the anticipated challenges in the elections and the need to forge a common front for the conduct of crisis free polls in the two states.
He assured that the police would remain neutral and professional in the election and promised to deploy all resources to ensure a level playing field for all parties.
On the likelihood of the outbreak of violence, the IGP said the police had already deployed intelligence to generate threat analysis which would be used to sustain their processes in elections in both states, to prevent any breakdown of law and order.
“The objective is to share knowledge and compare knowledge especially in regards to experiences with election security in Nigeria. We shall have discussions on key indicators of election security threats, especially arming and movement of political thugs, use of inciting statements during political campaigns, high likelihood of violence and issues of misinformation and disinformation aimed at heating up the polity,” he said.