Make 2019 Polls Violence-Free, PMB

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Kano told security operatives in the country to work in synergy to check ballot snatching and other forms of electoral crimes in the 2019 general elections.

Speaking at the passing out parade of 602 Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) trainees at the first regular cadet course, Buhari urged them to use their knowledge in modern policing to minimize the crime rate in the country.

He warned the officers to discharge their duties in accordance with the law and international best practices, even as he told them not to bend the laws of the land or succumb to financial or material inducements while performing their statutory functions.

He said, ‘’The Police must work in partnership with members of the public and desist from extrajudicial killings, as well as avoid unnecessary torture of suspects until and unless cases are proven beyond reasonable doubt. Truth is constant and will prevail, no matter how long it takes. Be above board and be contented with your salaries – and that is why my government recently increased your emoluments, so that you do not fall prey to financial misconduct.

“Let me remind you that this administration has zero tolerance level for corruption. You should shun corruption and collaborate with other security agencies to kill it before corruption takes over Nigeria. Try by all means to help arrest and prosecute law violators, no matter how highly placed they are in the society. It is my desire to make the Nigeria Police technologically based and professionally innovative.

“You should know that the law is no respecter of anybody and anyone found culpable against the nation’s law should be dealt with so as to ensure peace and stability in the nation. While discharging your duties, you will encounter all sorts of threats and inducement but you should shun it and be rigid with anybody who approaches you with any motive to break the rules, but you should rather maintain firm stance to law and order”.

Buhari further noted that there was a direct relationship between  crime and development, adding that if Nigeria is to have the required development, the security operatives should work fearlessly to shun corruption in all its ramifications.

He noted that the 2000 police officers he dispatched to the North East were to complement the other security agencies and ensure peace and stability in the region and the nation in general.

He added that, to date, the activities of Boko Haram had been curtailed as the insurgents no longer occupy a substantial territory of the North East.

In his remarks, the commandant of the Kano Wudil Police Academy, AIG Yakubu Jibiri, said the Police should not  be seen to be above the law, warning that anybody found breaking the law will face the full wrath of the law.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, commended the president for carrying out entire reform of the police academies across the country.