We’ll Prosecute Police Election Offenders – PSC

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  • Promises better policing for 2023 polls

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has vowed to prosecute all Police officers found wanting in their responsibilities during the 2019 general elections.

According to the Commission, there is no hiding place for such personnel as they will have to pay for aiding and abetting electoral fraud.

To carry out its threat, the Commission promised to officially write the acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on the status of Police offenders during the elections in order to ensure they are brought to book.

A statement by the Head of Press and Public Relations, PSC, Ikechukwu Ani said the Commission disclosed its stand during a virtual meeting with some Non-Governmental and Human Rights Organizations to review the challenges of election policing during the 2019 general elections as well as proffer ways to have substantial improvement in 2023.

The Non-Governmental and Human Rights Organizations that participated in the meeting held on Thursday, May 6, 2021, were the CLEEN Foundation, represented by its Executive Director, Dr. Benson Olugbo and the Situation Room, represented by Agianpe Ashanga and Akwu Ogbuadu of Policy and Advocacy Centre (PLAAC).

Addressing the virtual meeting, PSC’s Commissioner and Chairman of its fact finding team on election policing during the 2019 General Elections, Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi, said the Commission was poised to give the nation a much improved election policing come 2023.

Ogunbiyi, a retired Supreme  Court Justice, said there was need to examine the pitfalls of 2019 election policing in order to devise strategies for an improvement during the next polls.

She said the PSC will request the acting IGP to conclude investigations on cases of Nigerians who undermined the electoral process during the 2019 exercise and hand over such files to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) which is the body backed by law to prosecute election offenders.

According to her, the Commission will play its part in ensuring Policemen on election duties in 2023, commit themselves to the rules of engagement.Barrister Rommy Mom, a Commissioner in the Commission, representing the Non Governmental and Human Rights Organizations and Babatunde Dada, Deputy Director and legal Adviser to the Commission are the other members of the fact finding panel in attendance.

In his intervention, Bar. Mom expressed delight that the Commission and the Human Rights Bodies are coming together to forge a common front in the interest of a better Nigeria.

He said the PSC will sustain the initiative and ensure it positively affects election policing come 2023 polls.

Participants at the meeting had insisted 2019 election offenders must be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others with the 2023 elections around the corner.

They urged the acting IGP to tidy up all loose ends and hand over the case files of all offenders to INEC for diligent prosecution.

The PSC had earlier called and received memoranda on the pitfalls of election policing in 2019 and recommendations for better policing in 2023 from Nigerians and other stakeholders on election security

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