BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
The Nigeria Police Force has charged presidential candidates, especially those of the All Progressives Congress, People’s Democratic Party, Labour Party and New Nigeria People’s Party, to caution their parties, supporters against making inciting comments.
The police also sued for calm and patience as the Independent National Electoral Commission intensifies effort on the speedy collation of the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday throughout the country.
In a press statement released on Monday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated that:
“In furtherance of the close monitoring of the ongoing 2023 electoral exercise, and consequent upon a series of intelligence reports, and high expectations from all angles, the Nigeria Police Force deemed it necessary to charge Presidential Candidates of all political parties, most especially APC, PDP, LP and NNPP, to caution their party stalwarts and supporters to avoid making inciting comments capable of unnecessarily heating up the polity and creating undue excitement amongst the electorates and the general populace in the country.”
Continuing, the statement said, “The NPF, having assessed the trend of scaled-up expectations and psychological projections on the ongoing electoral process viz-a-viz collation of results, charges all presidential candidates, as leading and respected figures in their respective political parties, to seize the opportunity of this waiting period to emphasize the rule of law, respect for the Constitution, and constituted authority amongst their supporters, as we all owe a duty to ensure that the nation does not fall into anarchy on the basis of interests and sentiments.
“The Force similarly reiterates the need to desist from mounting undue pressure on the electoral process viz-a-viz the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body which is constitutionally mandated with the conduct of elections and announcement of results, as all hands are on deck to speedily conclude collation of results and declare the winner,” the statement said.
It concluded saying, “While commending the general populace and electorates for their patience thus far and largely lawful conduct around the country, the Police, therefore, encourages presidential candidates to admonish their supporters to uphold the tenets of the Peace Accord recently signed for the smooth conduct of the 2023 general elections.”
