Christopher Oji
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has said the Force, under his watch, is battle-ready for the forthcoming 2019 general elections.
The IGP said this, yesterday, at the launch of his book, ‘Security and justice: The pathway for peace and reconciliation in Nigeria’, held at Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
“We are prepared for the election. We have the men and we have the materials (logistics) to conduct a successful election, come 2019. You don’t have to panic. We have been making plans for the election. There is no cause for alarm; we are on top of the situation”.
On herdsmen clashes across the country, he said “the challenges we are having with herdsmen have gone down. In Benue, we have 15 units including the IGP Intelligence Response Team on ground and I have been monitoring their successes. I was in Benue and we have been having stakeholders meeting and we have been discussing. Based on that, people have been coming openly to state their problems and it’s through that we can understand each other and reconcile our differences.
“The role of traditional rulers in this reconciliation process cannot be over-emphasised because most of them have the ears of their people. When you have political disagreement in these communities, these traditional rulers are handy.”
The IGP also spoke about his decision to write a book.
“I guess many of you will be wondering what a serving IGP will be discussing in a book titled Security and justice: The pathway for peace and reconciliation in Nigeria.
“The answer is not far-fetched. The Nigerian Police Force, the nation’s core law-enforcement agency, which I superintend, has the responsibility to prevent and detect crime, apprehension and prosecution of offenders, preservation of law and order, protection of lIfe and property and the due enforcement of all laws and regulations…”