Nigeria Police Promise Safe January Election Despite Rising Insecurity

(Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu. Photo by Vanguard News)

Nigeria's police chief has promised that elections in January will be safe and secure, even though the country faces serious security challenges.

Olatunji Disu, the head of the Nigeria Police Force, said officers are being trained specifically to make sure voting happens smoothly.

He took office just 10 months before the election, which will see President Bola Tinubu seek a second term.

Elections in Nigeria have historically been messy.

Politicians often hire thugs to intimidate opposition supporters and silence dissenting voices.

Ethnic violence also frequently breaks out.

So the promise of a safe election is a big one.

The security situation is particularly bad in the north, where a jihadist insurgency has been raging for years and armed gangs are constantly kidnapping people.

Disu insisted that people will still be able to vote there, saying the police are working with the military to bring peace to every part of the country.

Some Nigerians are skeptical.

Many have told journalists they're afraid to travel to their home villages where they're registered to vote because of insecurity.

Nigeria faces huge challenges running a police force for roughly 240 million people spread across a vast country.

There aren't enough resources, officers are unevenly distributed, and the public doesn't trust the police after decades of corruption and brutality.

Disu is pushing for police reforms that would create state-run forces instead of having everything controlled from the federal level.

He says it would create smaller, more responsive police forces managed by locals who know their areas.

But critics worry that powerful governors would use state police to silence opposition.

Disu also mentioned that police are upgrading their technology.

They have 25 people training on drones and are using artificial intelligence to analyze data and predict where crime will happen.

Despite all these improvements, many Nigerians remain wary of the police.

Disu pushed back on recent security failures, saying officers are doing their best and dying in the effort.