By Dr Solomon Arase
It is with a heart filled with gratitude, elation and personal fulfilment that I welcome you all to the launch of these publications entitled Readings on Election Security Management and Selected Readings in Internal Security Management.
It is indeed, an honour to have this array of great nationalists, elder Statesmen, political actors, movers and shakers of our democratic journey, academics, industrialists, professionals, Civil Society Organisations, patriots, strategic security stakeholders, and other critical gatekeepers to our democratic heritage squeeze out time to grace this occasion which marks the public presentation of my latest intellectual endeavour.
I am particularly inspired by the presence of His Excellency, Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. More than enriching this assemblage, His Excellency’s attendance is symbolic in several other ways.
Firstly, Your Excellency is widely acknowledged both locally and on the global stage today as a symbol of our democratic stability, national security and cohesion for rising above passion and personal disappointments that resulted from the loss of the 2015 Presidential elections to concede defeat in a manner that defines him as a true patriot, genuine democrat, and peace advocate that believes in the Nigerian project.
Secondly, Your Excellency has been dedicating his post-presidency life to advancing democratic values, preaching tolerance, peace and security nationally and transnationally and building cross-political bridges all in a conscious effort to entrench democracy in our culture.
The themes, focus, message and goals of this publication are in tandem with what Your Excellency symbolises and projects. That is the need to deploy all our endowments, strengthen our networks and galvanise our intellectual potential towards advancing the cause of democracy and deepening the credibility of the electoral cycle.
It is within this context that Your Excellency’s presence shall remain eternally treasured, and in appreciation, may I call on all our esteemed guests to join me in extending a warm welcome to His Excellency, Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his vision, patriotism, sacrifice and service to democracy in our beloved country.
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, within the peculiarity of our clime and the context of extant laws, the Police and members of what Adam Crawford coined as the ‘extended policing family’ remain critical actors in democratic governance, the art of policing our democratic journey and protecting our democratic heritage.
In consequence, it could be safely affirmed that beyond the critical driving role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the quality of the legal framework governing the democratic process and the conduct of political actors, the professional output of the Police and the extended policing family within the democratic space remains a fundamental variable in our democratic journey.
The import of this assumption is that for our democracy to thrive, the security governance element must be effective. This requires that the Police and other complementary security agencies must be mentally mobile to act with knowledge of not just the laws of democracy, but to have the critical thinking and intellectual robustness needed to guarantee that that they understand well enough the democratic space they police, the peculiar threats that could stress the process and law enforcement conducts that could call the credibility of the process to question.
It also entails that they acquire strong and informed operational capacity that will position the institutions to aid other critical actors towards strengthening our democratic culture.
These publications set out to address these critical issues by critically interrogating the complex dynamics of democratic security governance in Nigeria.
The objects are twofold. FiThe first to open up the intellectual space about the intellectual, legal and professional inputs into the field of democratic policing.
The second is to equip the Police, the wider law enforcement community, the political class and other strategic actors in our democratic space with the requisite knowledge that will not only engender quality election security outcomes but act as a framework to hold law enforcement operatives accountable in the discharge of their electoral security mandate.
The inspiration for and Readings on Election Security Management emerged from a pivotal assignment entrusted to my company, Solar Security, by the then National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno CFR (rtd). We were tasked with delivering lectures on election security across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria to strengthen the capacity of security agencies and stakeholders to manage election-related threats.
Following the success of this initiative, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Alkali Baba Usman, extended another mandate to Solar Security to deliver an election security management course to police officers nationwide.
This monumental exercise brought together some of the finest minds and experts in the field, covering topics such as INEC’s preparedness for the 2023 general elections, election security threats, interagency collaboration, legal frameworks, electoral offences and punishments, civil society monitoring, human rights issues, media relations, and even the mental health of personnel. These engagements culminated in the creation of this book, which I am proud to present to you today.
The outcome of these engagements coupled with my experience as a former Inspector General of Police as well as my legal background exposed me to the knowledge gap on election security provision in terms of research and professional outlook.
This realisation was the motivating force in the perfection of this publication.
On the other hand, Selected Readings in Internal Security Management is structured into 26 detailed chapters, offering a panoramic view of internal security complexities in Nigeria.
It explores critical areas such as the nexus between peace, security, and national development; community policing as a tool for conflict resolution and trust-building; integrating human rights in line with the Mendez Principles; the interplay between political leadership and security dynamics; strategies for addressing emerging threats like cybercrime and environmental security; and the importance of interagency collaboration, legal reforms, and public-private partnerships in building resilient security frameworks.
While these books address distinct aspects of governance and security, they share a unified vision. This vision includes human-centric security management grounded in human rights-centred approaches; collaboration and coordination among security agencies, communities, and stakeholders; the use of technology and innovative strategies to tackle modern challenges like cybercrime and electoral fraud; and the importance of public trust and accountability as cornerstones for sustainable security and democratic processes.
This is our contribution to the advancement of our democratic journey, and I encourage everyone to obtain a copy to gain insight into the critical question of security governance of our democratic space and process, appreciate the complex dynamics, and contribute to the debate on the subject matter from an informed lens.
At this juncture, may I most heartily thank all the contributors to these intellectual masterpieces. I do appreciate that studies of this nature could be as dynamic as the human endeavour. Hence, while taking full responsibility as the Editor, for any imperfection in the publication, I am prepared to put all the contributors on notice to be prepared to update their contributions in future editions to further enrich the discourse on this critical field of study.
Furthermore, the proceeds from this work would go towards the advancement of the scholarship scheme under the Solomon Ehigator Arase Foundation.
Towards this end, I once again thank Your Excellency, Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for the honour of your presence. My special appreciation also goes to other esteemed guests for sparing time to honour our invitation and by so doing, contribute to the national efforts to deepen our democratic values.
I thank you all and pray for God’s protection of you all and our beloved nation as we police our democracy.
REMARKS BY DR. SOLOMON E. ARASE, CFR, NPM, fdc, IGP (RTD), AT HE PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF HIS BOOKS, HELD ON 18TH OF FEBRUARY 2025.
