The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, has issued a strong warning to politicians and other political actors against recruiting, arming or financing young Nigerians to attack opponents ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Disu said the Nigeria Police Force would not tolerate the use of youths as instruments of political violence, voter intimidation, destruction of property or other criminal activities before, during or after the elections.

The IGP delivered the warning on Thursday, August 20, at the National Youth Leadership and Security Dialogue in Abuja, organised by the Nigeria Police Force as part of activities marking the 2026 International Youth Day.

The three-day programme is focused on youth leadership, security, peacebuilding and responsible civic participation. 

His intervention comes as Nigeria enters an increasingly intense political period ahead of the 2027 elections, with political parties already building structures, mobilising supporters and positioning candidates for the presidential, governorship and legislative contests.

It also comes against the backdrop of violence recorded before and around the recently concluded Osun State governorship election, where killings, political clashes, allegations of thuggery and competing accusations between the major political parties heightened concerns about the vulnerability of young people to political manipulation.

‘Do not recruit our young people to fight your political battles’

Disu’s message was directed primarily at political leaders who may seek to exploit Nigeria’s large youth population for electoral advantage.

He warned politicians not to turn young Nigerians into foot soldiers for political conflicts that ultimately serve the interests of those contesting for office.

“We will protect the integrity of the electoral environment. But let me be equally clear, we will not protect violence. We will not tolerate the recruitment or mobilisation of young Nigerians for political violence.”

The IGP went further, appealing directly to political actors across the country’s political spectrum.

“Do not recruit our young people to fight your political battles. Do not arm them. Do not finance violence. Do not incite them against their fellow citizens.”

He also warned politicians against promising protection to young people after encouraging them to commit crimes.

“Do not encourage them to commit crimes today and promise to protect them tomorrow.”

Disu said Nigeria could not build a secure and prosperous society by sacrificing the generation expected to inherit the country.

His warning effectively places political sponsors of violence on notice as the 2027 electoral cycle approaches.

Police draw line between political participation and violence

The IGP made clear that the police would not prevent young Nigerians from participating in politics.

Young people, he said, have the right to join political parties, support candidates, campaign, express political opinions and participate in democratic processes.

The responsibility of the police, according to Disu, is to ensure that those rights can be exercised safely and within the law.

The distinction is significant because Nigeria’s young population represents a major force in the country’s electoral politics. Young Nigerians constitute a substantial portion of the electorate and are increasingly influential not only through physical campaign mobilisation but also through social media and digital political communication.

Disu’s concern is that the same energy that can strengthen democratic participation can also be manipulated into violence.

The police chief therefore urged youths to reject offers of money, weapons or political protection in exchange for attacking opponents or disrupting electoral activities.

The force has previously taken similar positions in Osun, where Disu warned political actors and their supporters that political contests should not be treated as warfare. In July, he directed security personnel to arrest and prosecute political thugs and sponsors of violence in the state. 

Political violence has moved beyond the streets

One of the most significant aspects of Disu’s latest warning was his emphasis on digital political violence.

He said political violence no longer begins and ends with physical clashes between rival groups.

Increasingly, he said, violence can begin on a smartphone.

Disu identified misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, cyberbullying, impersonation, deepfakes, online intimidation and coordinated digital attacks as emerging threats to Nigeria’s electoral environment.

According to him, such activities can damage reputations, inflame communities, provoke real-world violence and undermine confidence in democratic institutions.

This warning is particularly relevant as Nigeria heads towards an election cycle in which artificial intelligence and increasingly sophisticated digital tools are expected to play a greater role in political communication.

The ability to create convincing manipulated photographs, videos and audio recordings means false political claims can potentially travel much faster than traditional fact-checking mechanisms can respond.

A fabricated statement attributed to a candidate, for example, can trigger outrage before the person concerned has an opportunity to deny it.

For the police, therefore, electoral security is no longer exclusively a matter of deploying officers to polling units.

It increasingly involves monitoring the circumstances that can transform digital misinformation into physical confrontation.

Disu tells youths: Verify before you share

The IGP urged Nigerian youths to take greater responsibility for the information they distribute online.

He appealed to young Nigerians to verify claims before forwarding them and establish facts before publishing allegations against other people.

“Before you forward a message, verify it. Before you publish an allegation, establish the facts.”

He also warned against online attacks, reminding youths that the people being targeted on social media are real human beings.

“Before you attack someone online, remember that there is a human being behind the screen.”

The IGP urged young Nigerians to ask themselves a fundamental question before sharing inflammatory material:

“Will this build Nigeria or burn Nigeria?”

The police have increasingly incorporated digital threats into their broader security concerns as social media becomes a major arena for political mobilisation.

Osun election provides immediate warning

Disu’s intervention comes only days after Nigeria’s attention was focused on the violence and political tension surrounding the August 15 Osun governorship election.

The election was eventually won by Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, who defeated APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji.

But the electoral contest was preceded by a series of violent incidents and allegations involving supporters of the major parties.

Among the deaths reported shortly before the election was that of Dele Ayegbo, a nephew of APC Governorship Campaign Director-General Wole Oke.

Ayegbo was reportedly shot dead in Esa-Oke shortly before the election, with the APC alleging that the killing was politically motivated. 

The circumstances surrounding such incidents have, however, been contested.

The police have at various points attributed some of the violence in Osun to cult-related activities rather than political rivalry, highlighting the difficulty of establishing the precise motivation behind individual attacks in a highly charged electoral environment. 

Earlier in the election cycle, the Osun Police Command also arrested suspected cultists and political thugs and recovered items including an axe, a live cartridge and a cap bearing an Eiye Confraternity logo. 

These developments demonstrate the complicated relationship between organised criminal groups, cult networks and political mobilisation.

Where criminal groups are recruited or tolerated by political actors, distinguishing ordinary criminality from politically sponsored violence can become increasingly difficult.

‘Politicians reconcile, victims carry the scars’

At the heart of Disu’s message was a warning about who ultimately bears the consequences of electoral violence.

Political candidates may compete fiercely during campaigns and later reconcile after an election.

Young people who are recruited to fight, however, may not have the opportunity to return to normal life.

That reality was also highlighted in reports on the IGP’s address, with Disu warning that politicians can reconcile after elections while young people who lose their lives in political violence cannot return home. 

This makes political violence fundamentally different from ordinary political competition.

A candidate can lose an election and contest again.

A political party can lose power and rebuild.

A politician can change alliances.

But a young person killed during an election-related clash has no opportunity to recover from the consequences.

2027 security challenge is bigger than election day

The warning also reflects a broader shift in the way electoral security is being viewed by Nigerian authorities.

Election security cannot begin on polling day.

It begins months earlier, when parties conduct primaries, candidates emerge, political defections occur and rival political structures begin competing for influence.

Nigeria’s experience has repeatedly shown that violence can develop gradually through threats, inflammatory rhetoric, political intimidation and misinformation before eventually becoming physical.

The National Peace Committee similarly warned during the signing of the 2027 National Peace Accord this week that political violence often has a history before the actual violent incident occurs.

The committee said political disputes, defections, factionalisation, litigation, misinformation, threats, vote inducement and attacks on campaign activities should be treated as early warning signs rather than dismissed until violence occurs.

That makes Disu’s warning particularly significant: preventing political violence requires confronting its sponsors and organisers, not merely arresting young people recruited to carry it out.

Political sponsors may face greater scrutiny

Disu’s language also suggests that the police intend to focus attention beyond the immediate perpetrators of electoral violence.

For years, public criticism of election-related violence in Nigeria has often centred on the youths who carry weapons, attack opponents or disrupt voting.

But the more difficult question is frequently: Who recruited them? Who paid them? Who supplied the weapons? Who promised them protection?

Disu’s warning explicitly addresses those questions.

His appeal against arming, financing and mobilising young people means that political sponsors could increasingly become targets of police investigations where evidence establishes their involvement.

That could represent an important shift in Nigeria’s approach to electoral violence.

Arresting a young man at the scene of a political clash may temporarily remove one participant from the streets. Identifying and prosecuting the person who financed and organised the operation could have a far greater deterrent effect.

What the warning means for 2027

The 2027 elections are expected to generate intense political competition across Nigeria.

With presidential, governorship and legislative contests taking shape, political parties are already building grassroots structures and mobilising supporters.

The challenge for security agencies will be ensuring that political competition does not evolve into organised violence.

For Nigerian youths, Disu’s message is equally a warning about the long-term consequences of political mobilisation.

A political party may offer money for a campaign rally today, but the consequences of an arrest, criminal prosecution, injury or death can last far beyond election day.

The IGP therefore wants young Nigerians to see themselves not merely as voters or campaign foot soldiers but as stakeholders with a future beyond the immediate election.

That is ultimately the central question Nigeria faces before 2027:

Will young Nigerians be used as weapons in political contests, or will they become active participants in building a more peaceful democratic system?

The answer will depend not only on the youths themselves but also on whether political parties, candidates and security agencies are prepared to hold those who sponsor violence accountable.