community policing approach, using local leaders to solving the herdsmen/farmers conflict in the state.
“I was in Anambra and Imo states, those governments were addressing this herdsmen security issue adequately. You can see that we have never had the herdsmen threat. Previously it was there but now everything has been neutralised,” he said.
The Inspector General also said a lot of success has been recorded in addressing issues of election malpractices and violence during elections in the country.
Compared with previous elections conducted before his assumption of office, the IGP said all the elections conducted in the past one have recorded a marked improvement both in the level of peaceful atmosphere and adherence to electoral rules.
“We have conducted elections last year in Edo, Ondo, Rivers, Imo, Kano and Kogi states and I think those elections by and large are free and fair compared to previous elections, apart from Rivers state where three of our officers were slaughtered. From the police side, I think we are making progress in addressing most of the abuse of process during elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would further extend the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise to ward levels in Anambra for one week, beginning from July 10 and ending on July 16.
Speaking to THISDAY in an interview shortly after making a presentation at parley organised by the Civil Society Situation in Abuja last Friday, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission had made significant progress in its preparation for the 2019 general elections, adding that work on budgetary estimates would soon be completed.
“Next year, as part of the Election Project Plan, we hope to make deployment for CVR one week per quarter at the ward level. So, this is the first time a continuous voter registration will be taking place in the actual sense of it,” he added.
