After serving in acting capacity following his 25 January 2012 appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Mohammed D. Abubakar’s appointment was on Thursday ratified by the National Police Council
as the substantive Inspector-General of one of Africa’s largest police bureaucracy, the Nigeria Police.
Mr. Abubakar used Thursday’s final seal of his position as Nigeria’s police boss to assure Nigerians that he is committed to ensuring the safety and security of Nigerians, alongside ensuring that justice will reign under his command of law enforcement in the country.
The Inspector-General’s full appointment comes at a time of increasing challenges across the country, specifically with the recent uptick in violence and bloodshed in the northern part of the country where a shadowy group popularly known as Boko Haram continues to mastermind the indiscriminate slaughtering of innocent Nigerians particularly of southern descent and of the Christian faith.
Other challenges that Mr. Abubakar faces in his duty as Inspector-General include reforming of the Nigeria Police to reduce corruption and improve the battered image of the institution. Recently, Mr. Abubakar pulled his men from the ubiquitous security ‘check-points’ on Nigeria’s roads, a move that brought much needed respite to Nigerians in general after having to contend with the corruption of extortions carried out by underpaid and poorly-trained police personnel manning those check-points.
In the South East part of the country, Mr. Abubakar faces the challenge to put an end to incessant cases of kidnapping and extortion that has become increasingly popular in the region. A popular pharmacist in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, Mr. Godwin Eze Nwosu was recently kidnapped and killed by suspected kidnappers who are yet to be apprehended. There is also the similar case of Lotachukwu Ezeudu, a young student of the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria, whose kidnap and disappearance remains unresolved, even as there is strong suspicion that the local police leadership was involved in the abduction of the young man.
Similar challenges of law enforcement remain across the country, including to management of the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo State, in which People’s Democratic Party candidate, r etired Maojor General Charles Airhiavbere, is challenging the incumbent governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria’s run for second term in office. The state is tense and it will require adequate law enforcement to manage the situation effectively.
Born on May 5, 1958, Mr. Abubakar enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force on July 30, 1979. He was the AIG in charge of Zone 12 Headquarters in Bauchi, before he became the Acting IG.