Police get N64bn for elections, deploy APCs, others

A total of N64bn has been approved for the Nigeria Police Force as operations fund for security management for the forthcoming general elections.

This is as the Force Headquarters has dispatched anti-riot weapons, water cannons and Armoured Personnel Carriers, among others, to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to ensure watertight security during the elections.

Police sources confirmed to our correspondent that all the commands and formations across the country had got their share of the arms and ammunition unveiled by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, in Abuja, last week.

The sources, however, noted that the total number received by each command and formation could not be disclosed for security reasons.

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One of the sources said, “The HQ has deployed all the anti-riot weapons, water cannons, APCs, and other arms and ammunition in all the 37 commands and police formations in preparation for the elections.”

Another source said, “We have got the arms and ammunition, including water cannons, APCs and anti-riot weapons, and we’re fully prepared for the election security management. But we can’t declare the total number that we got for security reasons.”

Sunday PUNCH reports that N2.98tn was provisioned for the police, military, intelligence and paramilitary services as recurrent and capital expenditures for defence and security in the 2023 approved budget to tackle insecurity, which represents 13.4 per cent of the entire N21.83tn budget.

The N64bn police operations fund for the elections was contained in the N21.83tn budget approved by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

Meanwhile, the Force Headquarters has confirmed the deployment of the equipment and gave assurance of security before, during and after the elections.

It also noted that it had continued to deploy adequate personnel to ensure security during political activities, as political parties demand more police presence at campaign venues.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said, “There is no cause for alarm as we have shared a large number of equipment, most especially anti-riot equipment such as APCs, water cannons, tear-smoke, pepper sprays and some nonlethal weapons. But we won’t want to be specific about the actual number deployed because we don’t want to reveal our strength to the enemies, but every command has got its share, and we are sure that they will be of great help.

“The distribution still continues; in fact, we have just concluded the sharing of kits and accoutrements to all commands dealing with departments at the FHQ, Abuja and Lagos annex. So, our personnel are good to go, and we are still planning to share more as we expect deliveries of additional tools for the general elections.”