23rd April, 2015
In life, the only thing that is constant is change. Suleiman Abba, the sacked Inspector General of Police who at one time appeared untouchable and enjoyed the support of his principal, President Goodluck Jonathan, was humiliated out of office two days ago. As the wind of change blows across the Nigerian political landscape, there are obvious signs that it is not going to be business as usual and so it is important for the new Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to embark on institutional reform of the Nigeria Police Force.
On Tuesday, 21 April, 2015, President Jonathan, through his spokesperson, Reuben Abati, announced the sack of Suleiman. It was reported that more than 10 hours after his removal was announced, Abba was yet to receive any brief from the president informing him about his surprise sack.
Though there was no official explanation about why Abba was eased out of office unceremoniously, it is being speculated that it is not unconnected with his alleged refusal to dance to the tune of his principal to use officers and men of the Force to manipulate the 28 April presidential election for Jonathan to return to power.
Whatever may be the reason for Abba’s sack, it is imperative for the new Inspector General of Police to imbibe the lessons from this development. When Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives defected from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress, APC, Abba quickly played the PDP script by removing the speaker’s security details without following due process.
The Nigeria Police under Abba almost became an armed wing of the PDP and usurped the role of the judiciary when Abba justified his impunity by citing and interpreting a section of the Nigerian constitution to back his decision to humiliate Tambuwal, who is now the governor-elect of Sokoto State. Under Abba, policemen were routinely used as tools in the hands of PDP politicians to harass and intimidate members of the opposition parties and any perceived opponent of the president.
These are the patently partisan inclinations of Abba which Arase must avoid in order to earn the respect of Nigerians. The new IGP must reposition the Force as an independent, professional and integrity-driven agency. The image of the force has been severely battered by accusations of gross misconduct and doing the bidding of Federal Government officials at the expense of the generality of the people whose interest the police are supposed to protect.
Arase must boost the morale of the officers and men so that they can perform their primary duty, which is the protection of life and property of the citizens. Because the ratio of a policeman to the citizens is so small, Arase should reduce the number of policemen attached to politicians to free them to perform their primary roles to the larger society. He should also address the issue of accommodation and general welfare of his staff. The state of police barracks and some police stations across the country is highly deplorable. Arase should fix all these promptly and also carry the citizens along so that the public can assist the police in crime detection and fighting it.