By Ismail Auwal
The Inspector-General of Police(IGP), Usman Baba, has reportedly suspended the redeployment of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) and Commissioners of Police for election duties.
The IGP in a signal issued by the Force Secretary ordered the senior officers to suspend their movement until further notice.
Baba in the signal titled said ’Posting senior officers for 2023 general elections duty.’’
“INGENPOL directs that all officers deployed for election duties suspend movement to areas of deployment and await further directive. Ensure strict compliance,” the signal stated.
According to sources familiar with the Force there was no clear explanation on why the IGP ordered the suspension.
The police boss, on February 7, this year, redeployed some DIGs, AIGs and CPs ahead of the country’s general elections.
The redeployment was part of the strategies of the police authority to ensure that officers and men of the Force are not partisan before, during and after the elections.
It could be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) raised concerns that the cashless and currency swap policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would pose a challenge to the successful conduct of the general elections.
The commission said if nothing was done to address the cash crunch caused by the policies, it would find it difficult to deploy staff and materials for the elections as most of the services required cash to obtain.
