Following the insecurity challenges that has bedeviled the South East region, the Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Usman Baba, on Saturday assured that election will be conducted in the region in 2023.

Represented by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr Isaac Akinmoyede, the police boss gave the assurance during the opening ceremony of the “South-East 2023 Elections Security Management Workshop” in Enugu on Saturday.

He said that the police was building a robust synergy with other sister security organisations and formations to ensure that the 2023 election remained seamless and “very peaceful”.

“We are brainstorming together to fashion out ways to deal with existing and emerging security threats head long within the South-East.

“It is clear that with robust synergy, cooperation and joint operations this area will be the most peaceful and our people will surely come out to exercise their civic responsibility.

“We are working relentlessly on the goal of ensuring that election holds in the South-East and people’s vote are secured and it will definitely count,” he said

Speaking earlier, Dr Solomon Arase, a retired I-G of Police, said that the workshop was meant for all security agencies and formations in South-East to get them ready for the task of a peaceful, credible and hitch-free election in 2023.

Arase, who is a consultant in the workshop, said that the workshop would help to identify previous security gaps in election security as well as pinpoint task and responsibility of each security agency concerned about election.

“Security agencies have gathered here on how to study trends and patterns of crimes before and during elections and how effective to deal with it in a holistic and collaborative manner,” he said.

Also, the Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Mr Abubakar Lawal, urged the people of the zone and the state not to express any fear about the 2023 election.

“2023 Election will hold and we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that. Our people should not entertain any fear or any opinion in the contrary,” Lawal assured.

The workshop was initiated and organised by the IG to further build the capacity of security agencies and their personnel concerned with election security.

The workshop was attended by the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Department of State Security and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

Other are the Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Custom Service, Federal and State Fire Services as well as National Drug Law Enforcement Agency among others. (Daily Independent)

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