Joseph MBU
The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone II, Joseph Mbu, Thursday charged police officers not to accord any elected or appointed office holder immunity on election days, saying all voters are equal.
Addressing men and officers under him in Ogun State at Eleweran in Abeokuta, Mbu urged them to discharge their duty during the election in such a way that will contribute to free and fair conduct of the election.
Speaking against the backdrop of negative attitude of some police officers and the tendencies of being bought over by politicians, Mbu charged the police to be disciplined in the course of discharging their duty during and after the election, warning that any officer found culpable could be summarily dismissed.
Mbu, who explained that he was in the Ogun Command to “blow some air of courage into the officers” as well as to restore their hopes, charged them to rekindle their interest in the job.
“I have come here to restore hope in all of you and to blow air of encouragement into you.
“I love Nigeria Police, I love being a police officer and I’m very proud to be a police officer because only a police officer can do every other job and no other person can do a police job.
“If you love this job, the number one commandment for this job is discipline. You must be disciplined.
“That’s why I said don’t touch my policeman. If you shoot my policeman, I will shoot twenty of you, I will shoot a hundred of you because we are coming to you for peace.
“We are not coming to you to come and kill you. You are not engaging us in gun battle. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence but don’t fire first.
“Our duty is to make sure that the elections are conducted freely, fairly and peacefully and violence-free. There must be a code of conduct that you have to uphold to make sure that we actualise our goals.”
He described 2015 as a very critical period, saying the upcoming election was the most keen because the two dominant political parties were evenly matched.
“This is a turning point in the history of the Nigeria Police where two very powerful political parties are contesting keenly. So, we have to be very serious. We have to be very bold. We have to be very brave. You must remain at your duty post. You must make sure you keep an eagle eye on everybody coming there.
“You must make sure that whatever is in the Electoral Act, whatever is against the Electoral Act, you are there to stop it. You are not there to start greeting honourable or saying ‘oga, how are you?’ No. That is your day. Everybody is coming to line up. No governor, no president, no AIG, no IG. Everybody is lining up to vote and go his way”, Mbu submitted.
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