Police trained to curb security threats during elections

Officers of the Nigerian police force across the six geopolitical zones have been trained to curb threats that would trigger violence in the general elections.

The two-day training workshop for the Southwest region police officers on election security management was organised by CLEEN foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting public safety, security and justice in partnership with the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), and the Training Department of the Nigeria Police and Police Service Commission,

Speaking on the essence of the training, the Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr. Benson Olugbuo, said as the country prepares for the general elections in a few days, there is likelihood that some parts of the country would experience some electoral violence as seen in a nationwide survey carried out by the foundation.

Olugbuo, who was represented by the Programme Manager, Blessing Abiri, noted that the election violence risks include vote buying, which took the lead, while others are, religious extremism, cultistism, hate speech among others.

These, he said calls for the need to enhance the skills and capacity of police officers to monitor the elections and ensure effective security management, which the training is bound to achieve.

Ogbadu Phillip, a Deputy Commissioner of police in Ogun State command, who represented the Commissioners of Police in Southwest region said the workshop, which is one of the activities under the European Union funded project on “Mitigating Electoral Violence in Nigeria” is conceptualised against a backdrop of security threats across the country and their negative impact on the 2019 general elections.

According to Ogbadu, security threats across the country including those affecting the territorial integrity of the Nigerian states remains a national security threats to watch as activities build up to the elections.

Also speaking, the Head, Lagos Office/Southwest region, UK Department for International Development, David Ukagwu, said the support for the training is a safeguard measure to get the officers of the police force ready for the elections.