CODE OF CONDUCT
FOR
NIGERIA SECURITY AND CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS
FOR
PERSONNEL DURING ELECTIONS.
SERVICE VISION
To put to work efficiency, humility and integrity in the service of our nation and with a fresh zeal to bring credibility into the whole concept of security thereby restoring the much needed confidence of the Nigerian public, to justify our existence, build a culture and create an identity for the Corps.
SERVICE MISSION
To ensure the safety of lives, critical national assets and infrastructure and property and of both Nigerians and all foreigners resident in Nigeria before, during and after elections.
THE ROLE OF NSCDC IN ELECTORAL DUTIES.
INTRODUCTION
The NSCDC Act 2003 and its amendment Act 2007 empower NSCDC to carry out general security duties at National assignments such as General Elections
For the purpose of the elections, the Corps shall be deploying adequate number of personnel nationwide.
Officers and men to be deployed for this purpose shall be drawn from Counter Terrorism, Anti vandal, Chemical, Biological, Nuclear and Radiological Unit, Disaster and Rapid Response, SWAT, PGC, Kernel Units and CIPU units among others to ensure effective security coverage of the elections. In addition there shall be arrangements for standby armed squads for effective patrol, surveillance including undercover officers for intelligence gathering.
The Corps will carry out the following specific tasks:
$1a. Provide officials to help man registration/election areas and protect election materials.
$1b. Work with organized local/community security to monitor illegal activities during the elections.
$1c. Enforce restriction of movement of persons order that may be in force during elections
$1d. Deployment of sniffer dogs and Nuclear, Biological and chemical weapons units of the Corps at INEC headquarters as well as some strategic areas to checkmate IEDs and chemical explosives while at the sametime carry out crowd control duties
$1e. Provision of ambulance at polling centres, collation centres etc for evacuation during emergencies.
$1f. To collaborate with other security agencies in ensuring free fair and credible elections
$1g. The Corps shall carry out any other function necessary for the smooth conduct of the election as directed by the INEC.
$1h. Officers and Men must ensure the submission, or report of activities at their polling units and collation Centres at the end of the exercise
$1i. Officers and Men must where necessary communicate on phone any suspected activities that can jeopardise the election.
In view of the mandate of the Corps, all officers/men of the Corps, have the duty to participate in the provision of security during electioneering period in the country.
Furthermore, in addition to the security roles of officers/men of the Corps as citizens of Nigeria, there is the civic duty to guard against any form of manipulation/destruction.
GENERAL CODE OF CONDUCT DURING ELECTIONS
The Operational Guidelines of the Corps are anchored on its mission statement HUMILITY AND INTEGRITY IN SERVICE DELIVERY.
Therefore all participating Officers/Men of the Corps on electoral duty must comply with the following:
$11. Maintain zero tolerance for corruption. Any form of inducement in cash and kind must be rejected out rightly as it has always been the characteristics of the Corps.
$12. Must be CIVIL and not AGGRESSIVE.
$13. Must be POLITE and APPROACHABLE
$14. Must not compromise the performance of their duty on any ground
$15. Must exhibit due diligence , commitment and courage in the discharge of their duties
$16. Must ensure they are neatly and smartly dressed during the exercise
$17. Must carry out their duties within the confines of National and International law including NSCDC Act.
PRINCIPLES GUIDING ELECTORAL DUTY
$11. Alertness: This should be self evident, as alertness can nip trouble in the bud and prevent minor incidents from escalating. It must be noted that alertness will enable an officer/personnel to foresee security breach that may be in the offing
$12. Approachability: Officers/Men must display calmness and ability to respond to matters without exhibiting rudeness.
$13. Punctuality: Officers and Men on electoral duty must report to their duty post at least 2hours before official commencement.
$14. Professionalism: Officers/personnel must display high level of professionalism. There is a requisite level of professionalism expected of all the officers/personnel on election duty. Officer/Men must not leave their duty post during election duty
$15. Fairness: High handedness must be avoided by NSCDC officers/men in the discharge of their duties and must ensure fairness to all parties.
$16. Minimal use of Force: Due to the sensitive nature of the assignment, it is necessary to employ other means other than use of force, aggression and barbaric approach when dealing with the members of the public during the period of election, except where and when the need arises.
$17. Communication: Communication gap can mar the performance of officers/ men on election duty. In this regard the Corps channel of communication shall apply and on no account shall a superior order be disobeyed during election duty
$18. Awareness of Electoral Law: It is expected that officers/ men of the Corps on election duty must have the basic knowledge of electoral offences as received during the orientation on the conduct of elections
$19. Reporting: Officers/ men on duty must submit written and oral report to superior/designated superior officers for further analysis and necessary actions.
$110. Wearing of identification Tags: Officers/Personnel’s of the Corps on election duty shall wear tags with inscriptions of the Corps insignia to identify and differentiate them from those who are not on duty. This would help identify impersonators
$111. Cooperation and collaboration: The Corps shall coorporate, collaborate and partner with other Security Agencies for the purpose of synergy to ensure that the election is peaceful, free, fair and credibly. Personnel are to link up with the operation room and adhere strictly to the harmonized operational order and to ensure among others minimum of one person per polling booth, collation and final result declaration centres
ELECTORAL OFFENCES
Section 29 of the Electoral Offences Act provides that NO person shall on the date of which an election is held do any of the following acts or things in a polling station or within the distance of 300 meters of a polling station/unit
$1a. Canvas for votes
$1b. Solicit for vote of any voter
$1c. Persuade any voter not to vote for any particular party or candidate of choice
$1d. Persuade any voter not to vote at the election
$1e. Shout slogans concerning the election
$1f. Be in possession of any offensive weapon or wear any dress or have any facial or other decoration which in any event is calculated to intimidate/influence voters. (masking)
$1g. Exhibit, photographs or party cards referring to election
$1h. Use of any vehicle/clothing material, the colour or symbol of a political party by any means whatsoever.
$1i. Loitering without lawful excuse after voting or being refused to vote
$1j. Snatch or destroy election materials
$1k. Blare siren
$1l. Convene, hold or attend any public meeting during the hours of the poll
$1m. Operate any megaphone or any public address apparati except for making official announcement
$1n. Wear or carry any barge, poster, banner, flag or symbol relating to a political party or to any election
Punishment for contravening section 129 is a fine of N100, 000.00 or imprisonment for six month for every offence while punishment for snatching or destroying election materials is twenty four months imprisonment
CONDUCTS OF NSCDC PERSONNEL ON SPECIAL ELECTORAL DUTIES.
For the purpose of special electoral duties such as providing security for collation, counting centres and escort duties, it is expected that personnel involved:
$1a. Must not engage in educating the public on procedures for voting.
$1b. Must not be identified with any political party
$1c. Must not handle electoral materials
$1d. Must ensure that electoral materials are escorted to only authorized designated centres
$1e. Must take instructions only from escort commanders/INEC officials
$1f. Must not use official vehicles to carry electoral materials without the authority of the command or higher authority
$1g. Must not be involved in collations of votes
$1h. Must not be involved in taking of photograph in any polling unit/station.
$1i. Must not hold any meeting /assembly in and around the polling unit/station.
$1j. Must not fight or exchange words with any other officers in the course of the election.
DEPLOYMENT OF SNIFFER DOGS
The Corps shall deploy sniffer dogs to strategic places for the purpose of sniffing, barricade and crowd control before, during and after election with a view to detecting combustive, IEDs and scaring away thugs and hoodlums that are likely to be hired for the purpose of fomenting trouble.
REPORTING MISCONDUCT
It shall be the duty of every officer to report any case of misconduct that comes to his notice to the Commandant of the department of the employee in accordance to the Corps Service Rules/Scheme.
RULE OF ENGAGEMENT FOR ARMED PERSSONEL.
$1a. Armed personnel deployed shall maintain the mandatory 300 meters away from the polling unit
$1b. Use of Arms /Ammunition must be on the order of a designated Commander.
RULES OF ESCORTING OF ELECTORAL MATERIALS.
$1a. The Officers/Men shall carry out escort duties as may be requested by INEC Authorities.
$1b. Each State Command is expected to appoint a designated Officer as escort commander to coordinate escort of election materials/INEC
personnel.
$1c. The escort commander must have full knowledge of the materials destination, INEC Officials and any other information relevant for assignment.
$1d. The escort commander shall take inventory of materials to be escorted.
$1e. Must developed a route plan/safe haven, should there be any attack in the course of escort.
Note: PLEASE BE GUIDED ACCORDINGLY.