The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has ordered the distribution of more than a million copies of a handbook on guidelines and rules for police officers and other law enforcement agents ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
TheFact Daily gathers that the 36-paged manual produced by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and titled, “Revised Standard Operational Guidelines/Rules for Police Officers and Other Law Enforcement Agents on Election Security Duties”, contains a page for the details of the officer to whom it is issued, a foreword by the IGP, rules on general conduct, duty parade, briefing/debriefing, dress and accoutrement, managing political parties’ convention/rallies, and crowd control, use of force and lethal weapon, escorting and protecting election materials, the procedure of arrest, command and control and other salient electoral security rules.
According to the statement, the strategic distribution covers the Force Headquarters, Zonal and State Police Commands and Formations, and trickles down to Units of the Force and Divisional Police Stations to ensure that every police officer will have a copy of the guidelines for ease of reference before the commencement of deployments.
Adejobi said that IGP Baba has also ordered the distribution of the handbooks to the Presidency, Ministry of Police Affairs, Police Service Commission, the Military, and all other security agencies engaged alongside the Police in election security management based on their expected deployment for the elections.
“The Inspector-General of Police reiterates his expectation that the Police and other security agents involved in election security management will find the handbook to be a valuable operational companion which could act as a standard in holding them accountable in the line of their electoral duties, as all hands must be on deck to actualize the mandate and commitment of the NPF to have free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria”, the statement said.
