As the tenure of the incumbent Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, ends today, indications have emerged that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Police Council made up of the 36 state governors and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Mike Okiro, may have settled for the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 7, Mr. Suleiman Abba, as the next IG.
Thisday checks revealed that Abubakar retires today after attaining the mandatory 35 years in service.
It was gathered that the authority settled for Abba following convincing arguments that the leadership of the nation’s security forces will be concentrated in a particular zone of the country should the new IG be appointed from the list of names earlier submitted to the president.
It was gathered that President Jonathan was also under pressure from the North, who insisted that appointing the next IG from the South-south geopolitical zone would be counter-productive, especially with the security challenges facing the nation.
They argued that with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Kenneth Minimah from South-south, PSC Chairman, Okiro from the South-south, an IG from same zone would have been interpreted to mean a deliberate ploy to use security forces to clamp down on the opposition expected from the North in the 2015 elections.
Five senior officers were said to have been considered as the new IG and they include one Deputy Inspector General of Police from South-south, another DIG from North-west, and three AIG’s, from North-west, South-south and North-central zones.
During debates at the meeting for a new police boss, a group argued that Abba’s appointment would amount to favouring a particular zone since he is from the zone as his predecessor as well as former IG, Hafiz Ringim.
Another group, however, countered that during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former IG Tafa Balogun and the Chief of Air Staff then came from the same zone. Eventually, everybody agreed on the choice of Abba as the new IG.
Abba had served as the Commissioner of Police in charge Rivers State, Deputy Force Secretary Deputy Commissioner of Police (Deputy Force Secretary), Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of State CID, FCT Police Command.
He was also ADC to Mrs. Abacha during the tenure of General Sani Abacha as military head state.
The incumbent IG Abubakar, whose tenure expires today, was appointed the 16th indigenous IG in January 2012.
No comments :
Post a Comment