Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has assured Nigerians that the country’s 2027 general elections will be safe and secure despite ongoing insecurity, including jihadist attacks, banditry and kidnapping.
Nigeria is scheduled to hold its next presidential election in January 2027, with President Bola Tinubu expected to seek re-election.
Previous elections in the country have frequently been accompanied by violence, with rights groups accusing politicians of using thugs to intimidate opponents and suppress dissent. Ethnic clashes have also erupted during election periods.
“We will have safe and secure voting in the country,” said Disu, who became Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police Force 10 months before the election.
He said police officers were undergoing training “so that we improve our effort in bringing a perfect election in 2027”.
Addressing concerns about voting in parts of northern Nigeria affected by years of jihadist insurgency and attacks by armed bandit groups, Disu insisted: “Definitely people will be able to vote.”
The assurance comes as some Nigerians have expressed fears about travelling to their home communities, where they are registered to vote.
Disu said the police were working alongside other security agencies, including the military, “to ensure that we bring peace to every part of the country”.
Police Back State Police Reform
Nigeria’s security challenges have intensified since 2024, with conflict-monitoring organisation ACLED describing the period as the country’s most violent in nearly three decades, driven largely by banditry and jihadist attacks.
The Nigeria Police Force faces significant challenges in securing a population of roughly 240 million people, including limited resources, inadequate personnel, public distrust and the uneven deployment of officers.
The force also continues to face the legacy of the 2020 #EndSARS protests, which erupted over allegations of brutality by the police’s now-disbanded SARS anti-robbery unit.
Against this backdrop, the administration of President Tinubu is pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow Nigeria’s 36 states to establish independently managed police forces.
Supporters argue that state police would provide faster and more locally responsive security, with officers who understand the communities and terrain they operate in. The reform is also intended to improve accountability amid rising insecurity.
“We are in support of state police,” Disu told AFP from his office at the police headquarters in Abuja.
“We assisted in creating the framework,” he added.
However, critics have warned that powerful state governors could potentially use state-controlled police forces to intimidate political opponents or suppress dissent.
Disu said the federal police would remain in place and retain an oversight role, while police training would be standardised across the country.
“If anything that is not supposed to happen starts happening within the state police, measures have been put in place to correct it immediately,” he told AFP.
Police Plans More Officers and Technology
Disu, who assumed office in March, also said efforts were underway to expand the federal police force, which currently has just under 300,000 officers.
The plan is to increase the number to about 350,000 following a presidential directive. Disu said the force would resume regular recruitment after what he described as a slowdown under previous police leadership.
The police are also investing in technology to strengthen security operations.
According to Disu, a 25-member drone team is currently “undergoing specialised training”, while artificial intelligence is being used to analyse data and identify patterns that could help police anticipate criminal activity.
“We know where we are expecting banditry. We know insurgency. We know where robberies will go on,” he said.
Despite Disu’s efforts to present himself as a reform-minded police chief and his calls for Nigerians to report misconduct by officers, public confidence in the police remains a major challenge.
Researchers have linked the lack of trust to decades of corruption and the force’s difficulties in responding effectively to escalating violence.
Disu defended the police against criticism over recent security failures, saying officers were working under extremely difficult conditions and frequently putting their lives at risk.
“We are losing officers daily,” he told
