8th April, 2015
Eromosele Ebhomele
The Network on Police Reform In Nigeria, NOPRIN, on Wednesday demanded the sack of the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, the leadership of the Department of State Security Service, DSS, and all the service chiefs in the country in order to overhaul the entire security system of the nation.
The organisation listed several sins against Abba including human rights abuse and corruption while saying the entire security system has been politicised.
At a press conference held in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, and led by its National Co-ordinator, Nwanguma Okechukwu, the civil society group championing reforms for the police, also asked Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure that he reconciled all committee reports for the reform of the police and other security agencies in the country.
“All service chiefs, the Director of SSS, the Inspector-General of Police and all heads of similarly compromised security services as well as senior officers who have been politically exposed should be retired compulsorily to restore integrity and professionalism in our security services.
“They clearly showed their loyalty is, not to the law, not to the Nigerian people, through their elected representatives but solely to the executive and the ruling party,” the organisation said.
Among other things, the organisation urged Buhari to also support a reform to stipulate leadership qualifications and “entrench competence, integrity and effectiveness, ensure operational autonomy and insulate the police leadership from political control.”
The group further re-presented a report on Police Reform in Nigeria, which it said it first presented to President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 but which had not been considered to date.