The federal government has declared factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Simon Ekpa, wanted for announcing sit-at-home order in southeast during elections.
The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, said the Nigerian authorities are not taking lightly the threat by Simon Ekpa.
He said the threat made by Ekpa against conducting elections in southeast was an attempt to destabilize the country.
The police boss said an intelligence unit had been put in place to track and apprehend those who might engage in vote-buying and others who might want to disrupt the exercise.
“As part of efforts to address the menace of vote-selling and buying, a special intelligence unit of the force has been constituted to clandestinely monitor the trend and work with EFCC, ICPC and INEC in identifying the network that may be involved in this illegality and apprehend them where possible.”
Alkali asserted that an intelligence unit is in place to track and apprehend those who may engage in vote buying and others who may want to disrupt the exercise.
He said, “The force has identified the following major crimes that could negatively impact on the peaceful Democratic trajectory.
“We looked at offences like banditry and terrorism which is majorly located in the northeast geo-political zone, violent secessionist campaigns by elements of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Eastern Security Network which has been targeting the symbols of democratic governance including INEC assets, police stations and personnel, military and other agencies as well as state government officials, and traditional institutions, all in an effort to attain or disrupt the 2023 general election.
“We also have this growing misguided activities of the Oduduwa nation agitators who from intelligent sources of late are attempting to also attempt to destabilize the situation.
“We have this issue of illegal small arms and light weapons trafficking which are being used to bring a lot of problems. We have issues including cyber crimes, cyberbullying, kidnapping and all sorts.
“So, generally, the situation as it is against this background, the focus of the force has been to upscale our operational activities to stabilize these situations in order to ensure that the election takes place.
“We have in place certain strategic operational and tactical measures to ensure a peaceful electioneering atmosphere in Nigeria.”
