By Gift Osaze
President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC , may have retired Ibrahim Idris, the Nasarawa state, born former Inspector General of Police, IGP, after he had completed the mandatory 35 years in the Force to avoid heating up the polity. He was said to have been retired at the age of 60 years. to pave way for a new IGP, to give a bite to the security coverage of the 2019 general election.
there were the initial insinuations that he was contemplating between retiring him or extending his tenure as he did in the case of Gabriel Olonisakin, a General and Chief of Defense Staff, CDS, Tukur Buratai, a Lt. General and Chief of Army Staff, Abubakar Sadiq, Air Marshall and Chief of Air Staff and Ibk-Ete Ekwe, a Vice Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff in order to complete his first term in office with them
He may have been forced to retire him because of the allegations in political circles that the President was using the former IGP to harass his political opponents and to prepare the ground for winning the 2019 Presidential election.
Many had expected him to appoint a south easterner to Compensate the region for neglecting it in terms of appointments into his government or a south westerner, senior officer to take over from Idris, the ex-while IGP .They got it wrong .
Instead he had appointed Muhammed Abubakar Adamu, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, from Nasarawa state, north Central geo-political region to replace him, an indication that at the Deputy Inspector General’s of Police, DIGs and AIGs, who were senior to him in the Force, may be forced to retire, to get fresh hands into the Management team that would work with him. With the appointment, Adanu becomes the country’s 20th IGP between 1966 and now.
It further exposes Buhari style of Administration of giving choice security appoints to people he can control and trust, particular from the north, because of the upcoming 2019 , general elections. This is evident going by what Mahmood Yakubu, a Professor and Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, told the Security Committee, preparatory to the forth coming general election that the Police , would play a major role during the election by ensuring security while the military would concentrate on protecting electoral officials and escorting electoral materials to polling booths to protect it from party tugs. He was said to have assured the Katsina state born Nigerian President and INEC, that ”men of the Force will be professionals during the elections . This may gladden the heart of the party Presidential Candidates when he said that the ”police will not” go outside the ethics of their job to do things untoward ”,adding that ” everybody seeking elective office will be given a level playing ground”.
Given an insider information, he was said to have assured Nigerians, that ”adequate arrangement has been made to make sure that the 2019 Presidential election was ”free, fair and credible”. The acting IGP, was said to have promised to” improve on the strategies put in place by Idris, his predecessor to ensure a hitch-free elections in the country”. This clearly shows that Adamu, the new IGP, has a big task at hand which includes tackling the gross indiscipline in the Force as well as shouldering the responsibility of protecting the lives and property in the country.
The new acting IGP may also have to look at the activities of his officers on the road. The situation on the road road along the land Border areas . Take for instance , the situation along the Sango-Ota- Idiroko road in Ogun state and the Lagos-Seme road, where policemen at check points have devised means of making quick money through collection ofN100.00 from motorists.
This is a bad advertisement on the Force to see the policemen on the road giving out change to motorists who do not have the N100.00 denomination to give. Indris , the former Inspector General, was said to have done everything within his powers using Task Force to monitor the activities of his men on the road but that was how far he could go. This is where Adamu, the new Acting IGP, must make the difference from his predecessors.
Adamu may have known that this is an election year and he cannot afford to fail. It was not surprising why he had ”pledged to hit the ground running’ without delay”. Emerging from the Villa, after his decoration by Buhari, he was said to have promised to” tackle the issues of kidnapping, killings and armed robbery across the country”.
Until his appointment, he was the AIG, Zone 5, Benin, Edo state. He has served at various times as Commissioner of police and holding other strategic positions in the Force. Those who knew him, said, Buhari may have made a right choice going by his ”discipline and fairness in the discharge of his duties to his duties”. At present, he is a directing Staff member of at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPS, Jos, a position he may quit as IGP. Many believe that he is one officer who could not easily be manipulated by any higher Authority because of his philosophy of life: Fairness.
The IGP may have sent a signal to his men to braze up for the challenge ahead to ensure that democracy thrives in the country. Born on November 9, 1961, he was said to have enlisted in the Force in 1986 with a Bachellors of Science, B.SC. Degree in Geography.
