There are besetting
security issues that the Inspector General of Police
(IGP), Mr Suleiman Abba, must confront, to secure a place in the heart of
Nigerians.
Perhaps the most pivotal and
daunting challenges before the IGP, is the forthcoming 2015 election. Abba must
do everything within his power to ensure that the election is violence-free.
Already, there are fears that the
election would be dogged by violence. This fear may force people to keep away
from the polling booths.
It is vital for him to work, not
just with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but also with
other security agencies.
He had often been accused by
opposition political parties of being the puppet of the ruling party; this will
be the time to prove his accusers wrong.
He should do his job as a policeman,
ordering arrest of any law-breaker on Election Day, irrespective of the
person’s political leaning.
For the election to be
violence-free, Abba and his lieutenants must be at the top of their game to
ensure unlicensed arms in circulation are mopped up.
Abba should use a
politician or his thug, found with illegal arm, as a scapegoat.
People making inciting comments should be arrested, interrogated and even prosecuted to save the country from conflagration.
There should be no sacred cow. This
will serve as deterrent to others.
There is no harm in planting undercover
policemen at party secretariats. These policemen may be the first to know about
any forthcoming or planned violence, thus nipping it in the bud.
Abba by now ought to have started
having security meetings with political leaders from different parties, preaching
doctrine of peace and violence-free election.
In all, intelligence gathering is
still the best policy for any standard police force to embrace. With it, police
will become proactive by nipping violent crimes in the bud.
Abba should not relax, relent or lower his guard because of
some stupid, silly pact signed by apparently desperate politicians.
Abba must
remember that desperate men will do and say anything. Desperate situations,
call for desperate measures.
My take? They won't honour the pact. Perhaps, not them, but their supporters! You can take that to the bank! If they can't control their supporters, what then are we talking about?
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