The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, today, held a crucial closed-door meeting with the leadership of the 18 registered political parties in Abuja.
Addressing the opening session of the meeting, the IGP stated that the meeting between the Nigeria Police Force and strategic leaders across national security and intelligence agencies and the leaders of all the 18 registered political parties in the country became necessary in order to arrest the increasing political violence being witnessed in the last few days across the country.
According to him, “this meeting became expedient following a noticeable trend within the national political space which, if not promptly addressed, could evolve into a potent threat to not just our national security but the electoral process.
“Drawing from the experiences of the past, electoral violence both in the process leading to an election as well as the fall out of elections has always constituted the most dangerous threat to our democracy,” he said.
He pointed out that “most of the recorded violent incidents or threats often result from political extremism, misinformation, intolerance, wrong political orientation, hate speeches, incitement, and, most importantly, the desperation of strategic actors within the political field who often place their parochial political ambitions over and above national security interests and our nation’s stable democratic order.”
According to him, “such actors, usually give a wrong direction to their party faithful, arm them, re-orient them and encourage them to resort to the use of threat, violence, and other extra-legal means to frustrate competing political parties and impose their own faulty perception of politicking.”
