Ijaw Group Accuses Security Personnels Of Fueling Rivers By-Election Violence …..Calls For Police Reform

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The Save Ijaw Nation Group (SING) has accused security personnels, especially agents of the Nigeria Police, of leading the violence that disrupted the Port Harcourt Constituency 3 by-elections, held on Saturday 18th of August, 2018 in Rivers State.

The group in a statement signed by its deputy director of publicity, Mohammad Bash, said that the news of the violence came to it as a rude shock that armed security personnels provided protection for the perpetrators of the said violence.

Bash further said that security personnels have sunk to an even low level, taking the country back to the days when snatching of ballot boxes in attempt to brazenly rig elections was the order of the day.

Explaining further, Bash said as a result of the electoral violence experienced in Rivers State, their is urgent need to reform the Nigeria Police Force ahead of the 2019 general elections across the country.

Part of the statement reads “this shows ominous signs, of what is to come, and should put all well meaning Nigerians on the edge of their seats with worry.

“While we had come to believe that the biggest challenge to elections is the phenomenon of vote buying at the voting centres, in the full glare of security personnel, for which we had held several engagements to proffer solutions to.

“Never in the history of election malpractices and violence in this country have we had a situation where armed security personnel lead the violence and provide protection for the perpetrators of violence.

“And this national and international disgrace calls for an urgent reform of the security architecture of Nigeria, beginning with police reforms. While police reform arguments have often tilted too much towards creating state police, the problem as we have seen time and again is much deeper than just decentralizing the current system.

“We call on the National Assembly, in furtherance of the bills for police reforms under consideration, to focus more on independent funding and operations of the police to ensure that it is egalitarian in the discharge of its duties of rendering service to the people rather than the whims of the government of the day.

“The National Assembly should also give more than passing consideration to strengthening the provisions for sanctions in our Electoral Act, to serve as deterrent.

“It is rather worrying that President Buhari has vetoed the electoral act as passed by the national assembly, without providing good enough reasons to the people of Nigeria.

“That Act made provisions for the institutionalization of the use of card readers and we are greatly concerned that there is a deliberate attempt to stifle the voice of the people using armed security men.”

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