Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has assured Nigerians that the conduct of police officers before, during and after the 2027 general elections will inspire public confidence and make citizens proud of the force.
Disu gave the assurance while responding to questions from journalists after the launch of The Origin of Women in Nigeria Police Force, a book authored by 96-year-old Dame Stella Okuyiga, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police and one of the first 20 female officers recruited into the Nigeria Police Force.
The police chief said the force had begun preparations for the elections, including reviewing its performance in recent electoral exercises to identify areas requiring improvement.
He disclosed that a conference involving commissioners of police across the country and other senior officers had recently been held to strengthen professionalism and improve the force's handling of the forthcoming polls.
“I want to let you know that we just finished a conference of all commissioners of police and other senior officers. We have had two or three elections recently, and you can see the police did very well, and we did too,” Disu said.
According to him, the force had assessed its successes and shortcomings in previous elections and was using the lessons learnt to improve its preparations for the 2027 general elections.
“We have now brought all these experiences together, where we did well and where we did not do well, so that we can perform better in this big election that everybody is looking up to,” he said.
The IGP added: “I give you my word. Nigeria Police will do so well, and we will make Nigeria Police so proud, and we will make Nigerians proud.”
On the book launch, Disu described Okuyiga's contribution to the history of the police as significant, noting that her experiences would serve as a valuable resource for younger generations of officers, particularly women in the force.
He said the retired police officer joined the force in 1955 and had documented her experiences and institutional knowledge to preserve the history of women in Nigerian policing.
“Mama is 96 years old, and she has taken her time to put all her experience, institutional knowledge that she has down in the book for us to be able to study it for the generations coming, for women police in the next generation to have something to look up to,” he said.
Disu said the police leadership was committed to preserving the institution's history and recognising the contributions of its members.
He added that the force would ensure copies of the book were made available to police training institutions to enable officers to learn about the experiences of their predecessors.
“We in the police, we are starting up the history of not leaving our own, not forgetting our own,” the IGP said.
“We are going to ensure that we get copies of this book for all police training institutions, for all police officers to go through to see what it was like to be police officers.”
In her remarks, Okuyiga expressed delight that the publication would preserve her legacy and allow her experiences to remain accessible to readers around the world.
“This book launch today is an important day in my life because the book itself is there. But I still live on my life. I still live on because this book will be in libraries all over the world, and they’ll be reading it,” she said.
She added: “So I’m so happy that with all that is happening today, I will continue to live forever.”
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Dagogo Wokama, launched the book with a donation of N20 million.
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