The Nigerian police chief promises "safe and secure" elections despite insecurity

The Nigerian police chief insisted, during an interview with AFP, that the upcoming national elections will be held safely, despite the violence that usually erupts during election periods, the jihadist insurgency and a serious kidnapping crisis.

Africa's most populous country will go to the polls in January, when President Bola Tinubu seeks a new term.

In the past, elections have been marred by violence, with politicians recruiting thugs to intimidate their opponents and silence dissenting political views, human rights organizations say.

Ethnic violence also erupts frequently.

"We will have safe and secure elections in the country," said Olatunji Disu, Inspector General of the Nigerian Police, who took office 10 months before the vote.

He stated that the officers were being trained "in order to improve our efforts to ensure perfect elections in 2027."

When asked about holding elections in the northern regions of the country, ravaged by violence, a jihadist insurgency that has lasted for years and kidnappings by armed gangs of "bandits," he said: "People will certainly be able to vote."

However, some Nigerians told AFP that they were afraid to go to their villages of origin where they are registered.

"This force works with other agencies, including the military, to ensure peace throughout the country," Disu said.

- Police reforms -

Violence has worsened since 2024 and the country is currently experiencing its most violent period in nearly three decades, fueled by banditry and jihadist attacks, according to the American conflict monitoring organization ACLED.

But the country faces enormous challenges in maintaining order due to the size of its population, insecurity, insufficient resources, public trust, and the unequal distribution of personnel for its approximately 240 million inhabitants.

In 2020, major protests broke out against the brutality of the SARS anti-robbery brigade.

Tinubu's government is pushing for reforms that would require a constitutional amendment to create police forces run independently by Nigeria's 36 states.

Its proponents argue that this would create agile and more easily accountable forces, composed of locals familiar with the terrain, in a context of increasing insecurity for years and accusations of slow response from federal forces.

"We support the state police," Disu told AFP earlier this week from his office at the highly secure police headquarters in Abuja, near the National Assembly and the presidential villa.

"We contributed to the creation of this framework," he added.

Critics fear, however, that Nigeria's powerful governors will use police forces to suppress opponents and dissenting voices.

Disu stated that the federal police, which would not be dissolved, would retain some control power and that training would be standardized nationally.

"If anything unusual happens within the state police, measures have been put in place to address it immediately," he told AFP.

- Drone team -

Disu, who took office in March, said he was meanwhile working to expand the federal police force, which has just under 300,000 officers, in a country where both the military and police are overstretched, particularly in rural areas.

Following a presidential directive, the police aim to increase their numbers to around 350,000 men, notably by resuming regular recruitment, which, according to Disu, had fallen behind under his predecessors.

Disu also indicated that the Nigerian police were working to modernize their technological equipment.

A team of 25 people, specializing in the use of drones, is currently undergoing specific training, and the police are analyzing data using artificial intelligence to better understand trends.

"We know where we expect to find acts of banditry. We know about the insurrection. We know where the robberies will take place," he said.

Although Disu presented himself as a reformer and called on the public to report offending police officers, many Nigerians do not trust the police, which researchers say is weakened by decades of corruption and has struggled to cope with rising violence.

Disu, however, refuted the recent security failures, stating that the police were doing their best, often at the cost of their lives.

"We are losing agents every day," he told AFP.