Opposition political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, on Wednesday, February 6, 2019 alleged that they were in possession of credible information that Police posting for the purpose of providing election security has been compromised.
The coalition’s spokesperson, Imo Ugochinyere, said this in a statement made available to journalists.
Ugochinyere alleged that the posting was compromised by the Police hierarchy in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He further alleged that some leaders of the party have been requested to make their choice of Commissioners, Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers, SARS Commanders, Rapid Response Squad Commanders, MOPOL Commanders and other strategic positions in the Police.
He said, “The manipulation includes asking selected and designated leaders of APC to choose the officers that will work with them.
“This manipulated posting of police officers in line with the choices of politicians of the ruling party is an invitation to anarchy and a recipe for disrupting the elections which the Federal Government has been working towards as their alternative option where all their rigging mechanisms fail so as to perpetuate President Muhammadu Buhari in office.
“Unfortunately, the acting Inspector-General of Police has succumbed to their ploy and is now taking instructions from a political party on police postings.
“The Presidency has deliberately kept him in acting capacity so as to use his confirmation as a bait to get him to do their bidding. He is now completely at their beck and call and their usual line to him are; “we will talk to the President about your confirmation, that you really helped us.’
“The entire security architecture of the election has been put in grave danger and the people bestowed with the responsibility to provide security of lives and property are the same set of people jeopardising the security of the country.”
Ugochinyere described the “politically tainted police postings” as invitation to a bloody electoral crisis and said it must be reversed immediately.
He added, “The acting Inspector’General of Police is set to among other politically tainted postings announce the appointment of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, former CSO to Bola Tinubu, as the Commissioner in charge of Kwara State.
“Though not of the rank of full Commissioner and when there are enough Commissioners, the APC want to post Egbetokun to Kwara to ensure that votes do not count in Kwara State and that Senator Bukola Saraki and the PDP must not win in Kwara, even if the people vote for them.
“Where all the manipulated postings are not reversed, our resolution is that the Nigerian opposition will not be at the peace accord signing to validate and grant legitimacy to the grand violence module and rigging design of the APC.
“We call on members of the Police Service Commission to put their feet down and insist on the right thing. Why should the APC insist on particular officer to be sent to particular places due to political considerations? Why is Rotimi Amaechi insisting that Mr Akin Fakorede must not be transferred from Rivers State despite being indicted by INEC for electoral violence?
“Why is the APC National leader Bola Tinubu insisting that it must be Egbetokun and no other person will be posted to Kwara? Why is Senator Godswill Akpabio insisting on having his blood relation in charge of SARS in Akwa Ibom?
“These kinds of insistence tarnish the image of the Police, tend to show there are no other qualified officers that can do the job in those locations and rob the electoral process of every strand of credibility. Should the political buccaneers have a say in first place on police postings? How have we descended so low?
“We hereby invite the US and UK governments as well as the EU to watch the acting Inspector-General of Police closely and hold him personally responsible for the collapse of security during the elections.
“He should be reminded of the consequences of his actions. He should be reminded
that he would be placed on visa ban along with all members of his family and could be liable for prosecution under the International Criminal Court jurisdiction.
“Security of the election is very critical and the neutrality and nonpartisanship of the security forces will go a long way in giving confidence to citizens about the credibility of the election.”
