Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Nigeria Police Explosives Ordnance Department (EOD), Kayode Egbetokun, has charged his men to be more dedicated so as not to fail Nigerians during the upcoming general election.
The commissioner of police, who spoke at the weekend during the quarterly conference with senior officers and EOD base commanders across the country at his office in Lagos, said: “In exactly two weeks from today our country will be going into another general election, and that is why we are having this conference with the theme ‘Emerging threats and strategic coverage of the 2019 elections.’ The theme, therefore, captures the mood of the nation.
“Nigerians look up to two institutions, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police, for a pleasant experience in this election.
The INEC, as in all other elections, conducts the election, while the police lead other security agencies to provide security for the electoral process.
“Our role in this process is clear. We know the importance of this role in the attainment of the singular objective of hitch-free elections and there will be no excuse for failure. We must and will deliver on our security mandate in the elections.
“The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, during a conference with Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and Commissioners of Police of commands and formations held at his office in Abuja, rolled out a number of engagements that are directed at ensuring quality service delivery by the police and other agencies during the general election.
“This conference is another engagement in the same direction. That is why we must not fail” he said.
“The conference will consider the threat index and threat analysis at our disposal to maximise efficient deployment of human and material resources available for election. This will be supported by the presentation of SWOT analysis of the entire EOD team to keep us ahead of criminal elements.
“Our goal is to play our role creditably and ensure that the election is conducted hitch-free.
“We must nip in the bud any plot capable of undermining peaceful conduct of the election. To this end, I charge you all to always adopt a proactive approach that will put you ahead in all your tasks and be prepared for swift response to any emergency in your areas of operation.
“You must also sensitise your personnel on the need to perform electoral duties within the dictates of the Electoral Act. You must galvanise your men and mobilise all resources towards attainment of peaceful and credible outcome in the election.
“As the clock of the 2019 elections ticks down, my expectation of you is to perform this election security duties professionally to the admiration of the people and use this opportunity to further enhance the reputation of the Police EOD and image of the Nigeria Police in general.
We have done it before and we reiterate our commitment to make sure that we will deny terrorist organisations and other criminal gangs access to explosives and other dangerous allied materials.
“We have improved on our efforts to keep explosives, including nuclear and radioactive materials within regulatory control.”
Furthermore, Egbetokun noted that the EOD team had specific roles, saying, “As you all know, we have made steady and sustainable progress in the discharge of our primary duties of detection, identification, evacuation, neutralisation, demolition of discovered UXOs and disposal of IED. We have all it takes to take care of the election.”
“We have embarked on mobilisation and training/re-training of personnel to enhance our strength and performance and we will take delivery of some equipment very soon. I charge you not to fail,” he concluded