Police Should Kill Bandits, Not Democracy In Plateau, Nasarawa

 By Emmanuel Aziken

Arguably the best Inspector General of Police since the exit of Solomon Arase, Nigeria’s top police shot, IGP Usman Alkali Baba appears to have now run himself into an unnecessary controversy.

Given the foibles of the ruling political class, he had within reasonable expectations held his dignity in the face of the rascality of political actors here and there during the recent General Election.

IGP And The Missing Police Vehicles

By Paul Onomuakpokpo  

Since governance in these climes is often appropriated by those we entrust with leadership as a means of unbridled material acquisition, we are regularly scandalised by sleaze in public offices. The reports on such venalities come to the public with such rapidity that we do not infrequently fail in a bid to track them. But this rapidity serves well the opprobrious cravings of our public officials. Let the scandals break today, they are not bothered – by tomorrow other scandals would break that would take away the attention of the citizens from those of today.

*President Buhari and IGP Idris

Yet, at a time of economic recession that has thrown up the overarching need for transparency and prudent management of fast-vanishing resources for effective governance, we would not allow an opportunity to conserve the nation’s money to slip by. One of such opportunities that we must seize is the recovery of some police vehicles that have been allegedly stolen.

We have been told that the office of the inspector-general of police has been stripped bare of its vehicles. The culprit has been identified as the former inspector-general of police Solomon Arase. He allegedly took away 24 vehicles of the police at the end of his tenure. Among these vehicles were two BMW 7 series, one armoured. The incumbent Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris first made the allegation in July. He lamented how the haemorrhage of police vehicles led to his using a rickety one to travel somewhere with President Muhammadu Buhari. When the latter saw it, he was so outraged that he asked him what he was doing with it.

Three months after, the allegation is still on. But this time, the allegation has been framed in a way to present Arase as admitting to stealing 24 vehicles, out of which 19 have been recovered. But Arase has insisted that he did not steal the vehicles in the first place. He has asked his successor Idris to make available the registration numbers of the vehicles allegedly stolen.

How Buhari Is Harming The North And Nigeria

By Azuka Onwuka
With last week’s appointment of Mr Ibrahim Idris as the Acting Inspector-General of Police (bypassing 30 of his seniors), President Muhammadu Buhari further made the headship of virtually all the military-cum-defence agencies and related agencies which wear uniform a Northern affair.

*Buhari and Emir Sanusi of Kano

Records show the following:
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai – North;
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar – North;
Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris – North;
Minister of Defence, Brig Gen (retd) Mansur Dan Ali – North;
National Security Adviser, Major Gen (retd.) Babagana Munguno – North;
Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim  Magu – North;
Director-General, Department of State Services, Mr Lawal Daura – North;
Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (retd.) – North;
Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service, Mr Kure Abeshi – North;
Controller-General, Nigerian Prisons Service, Alhaji Ja’afaru Ahmed – North;
Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr Abdullahi Muhammadu – North;
Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig Gen Sule Kazaure – North;
Comptroller-General of the Federal Fire Service , Mr Garba Anebi – North.
If it is recalled that the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Damazzau (retd.), under whose ministry are Prisons Service, Immigration Service, Fire Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, is also from the North, then the Ministry of the Interior with its agencies is virtually controlled by the North in clear breach of the Federal Character policy enshrined in the constitution.

Furthermore, even though it was not Buhari that did it, yet for the first time in the history of Nigeria, all the three arms of government are headed by Northerners:  
Executive, President Muhammadu Buhari;
Legisture, Dr Bukola Saraki;
Judiciary, Justice Mahmud Mohammed.
In addition, the two arms of the legislature are headed by Northerners: Dr Bukola Saraki, Senate President, and Mr Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives.

Will New IGP, Idris, Be Up To Scratch?

By Oguwike Nwachuku

At a brief ceremony at Louis Edet House (otherwise called Force Headquarters) in Abuja on Wednesday, June 22, out-gone Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, handed over to his successor, Ibrahim Kpotum Idris. President Muhammadu Buhari, in exercising his right under Section 215 of the Constitution, named Idris IGP in acting capacity a day earlier, June 21. He becomes the 19th IGP.

*President Buhari and New IGP Idris 

A statement issued by Buhari’s media aide, Femi Adesina, said Idris was born on January 15, 1959; hails from Kutigi, Lavum in Niger State; and enlisted in the police in 1984, after graduating from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria with a Bachelor’s degree in agriculture.

He also holds a degree in law from the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID).

“Idris, who was in charge of Operations at the Force Headquarters before his appointment as acting Inspector General of Police, will act in that capacity pending his confirmation,” Adesina said.

Handing over to him, Arase said Idris “is going to serve in an acting capacity until the Police Council confirms him. I want to seize this opportunity to thank Nigerians for the cooperation given me while I served as Inspector General of Police. By extension, I want to also appeal to you to give the same support that you gave to me to my successor. He is a younger man, so I am sure he will be abreast with contemporary policing issues.”

According to Paragraph (a) of Section 215, “An inspector general of police who, subject to Section 216 (2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force.”

Section 171 of the Constitution empowers the president to appoint the secretary to the government of the federation; head of the civil service of the federation; ambassador, high commissioner or other principal representative of Nigeria abroad (subject to confirmation by the Senate); permanent secretary in any ministry or head of any extra–ministerial department of the government, and any office on the personal staff of the president.

But Section 216 (2) says, “Before making any appointment to the office of the inspector general of police or removing him from office the president shall consult the Nigeria Police Council.”
By the appointment of Idris, Buhari has proved his critics right once more that he is determined to appoint into certain offices those who catch his fancy so long as they are from the Northern part of the country.