EMERGING as the new face of The Nigeria Police days after his predecessor, Hafiz Ringim, was effectively relieved of his appointment as the police inspector-general, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, 54, declared to an increasingly nervous Nigeria that he would work to “crush” the growing insurgency of the villainous terror group known as Boko Haram in the country.
The Acting Inspector-General made the remarks as he arrived at the ‘Louis Edet House’ police headquarters in Abuja, FCT, where he was treated to a warm reception of loud applause and guards’ salute.
“We shall go to every nook and cranny of this country to fish out these criminals that have been troubling this country; they will not sleep as we will continue to pursue them,” the acting helmsman said, sounding a tough note of warning that things would be different under his leadership of possibly the biggest police organization in Africa.
Mr. Abubakar said he would bring his wealth of experience as a 33-year veteran of the police to bear in the performance of his duties, not only to rout the menace of villainy and terror that Boko Haram constitutes to Nigeria and Nigerians, but also to weed out the bad eggs that continue to tarnish the reputation of the law enforcement organization he heads.
“I am not a newcomer to (the police). I cannot run away from the fact that there are a lot of challenges but I do know that we have challenges that are of high impact. I want to assure all Nigerians that this administration will be different from any other administration because every officer and men of the Nigeria Police will belong to the same family.
“This administration will not tolerate any, and I mean any, act of indiscipline, act of corruption and I intend to live by good example.
“Therefore, officers and men of the Police will hold positions and postings based on their competence and ability to perform. All officers will be assessed based on their performance and not based on who you are by name.”
“I did say we shall fight crime in all its ramifications, crime and criminality. Whatever name you give it, whether it is Boko Haram or armed robbery. We shall fight crime in all its ramifications. I cannot do this job without my officers and men. There is no commander without troops. Therefore, we shall do what we shall do and you will be there to see what we shall do but we need prayers because whatever you want to do, you need to pray.
“We have worked in some other places. We demonstrated it and we intend to demonstrate it here and we intend to do more.”
Stating his desire to oversee a restructuring of the police, the acting police boss said that he would eagerly pursue it to logical conclusion, saying “The Police (is) going to undergo serious restructuring. You are aware of the police committee set up by Mr. President. We are going to work together with them to ensure that Nigerians have the Police Force that they deserve; that will respect the rule of law; that will be honest, committed and fair in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“We are going to place our Police colleges and training institutions on a very serious tasking challenge for them to be able to train our officers and men.
“I am going to declare a state of emergency in all the training institutions so that we can look at the facilities, the staff and what they have on ground. We cannot take policemen to institutions that are bad; that are tattered. Empowerment is lacking and so you cannot produce good Police officers from there.”
Mr. M.D. Abubakar comes on stream at a time when the Federal Government desperately seeks to bring a sense decisiveness to bear in its duties to ensuring the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens are protected. The presidency had on January 25 asked that Mr. Ringim proceed on leave with immediate effect, along with all serving deputy inspector-general of police in the country. They include Mrs. Ivy Uche Okoronkwo, DIG POL 2i/c Force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr. Azubuko J. Udah, DIG Administration (“A” Dept), Mr. Sardauna Abubukar, DIG Training (“E” Dept.); Mr. Audu Abubakar, DIG Operations (“B” Dept); Mr. Saleh Abubakar, DIG Works (“C” Dept.) and Mr. Mohammed A. Yesufu, DIG Planning and Info-Tech (“F” Dept.).
The Federal Government also established a Special Committee to oversee the urgent reorganization of the Nigeria Police Force. The committee is to be chaired by the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Parry B.O Osayande, DIG (rtd). Other Members of the Committee include Mr. Casimir T. Akagbosu, AIG (rtd.), mni; Mr. Bashir A. Albasu, AIG (rtd.), fwc; Major Gen. S.N. Chikwe, rtd.; Prof. S.D. Mukoro; Dr. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN; Aisha Larai Tukur; Solicitor General of the Federation; Permanent Secretary, SSO, Office of the SGF to serve as the Secretary to the Committee.
According to the presidency, the Committee’s Terms of Reference include:
1. To identify the challenges and factors militating against effective performance in the Nigeria Police Force and make recommendations for addressing the challenges.
2. To examine the scope and standard of training and other personnel development activities in the Police to determine their adequacy or otherwise.
3. To determine the general and specific causes of the collapse of public confidence in the police and recommend ways of restoring public trust in the institution.
4. To examine records of performance of Officers and Men of the Nigeria Police Force with a view to identifying those that can no longer fit into the system due to declining productivity, age, indiscipline, corruption and/or disloyalty;
5. To make any other recommendations for the improvement of the Nigeria Police Force.
The Committee’s recommendations shall be implemented along with those by previous committees set up by Government on the reform of the Nigeria Police Force.
Meanwhile, Nigeria Police has arrested 200 people, mostly Chadian “mercenaries,” after last week’s attacks in Kano, a police source said on Thursday, as a fresh blast struck the same area.
There were indications the Chadians had been paid to participate in the recent attacks attributed to Boko Haram, the source added.
A United Nations (UN) report on regional security released on Wednesday said there was evidence suggesting the Nigerian group had Chadian members who had received training from Al-Qaeda’s North Africa affiliate.
But a Nigerian specialist with the International Crisis Group (ICG) said it was unlikely the sect had such a high number of foreigners in its ranks.
The police source, who reported the Boko Haram arrests, also said suspected members of the sect had reached out to the police for potential dialogue, with an emir as mediator.
In another development, a popular bus terminus in Kano, from which many people travel to other parts of the country, witnessed a bomb explosion on Thursday afternoon, leading to the closure of activities in Sabon Gari where the park is located.
An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, told the Nigerian Tribune that the small bomb that exploded was packed inside a school bag and dropped between two luxury buses set to be loaded.
The source revealed that the passengers were carrying their luggage into the buses when the explosion occurred shattering the side windows of two luxury buses.
The policemen, who arrived at the scene of the incident, advised the passengers to vacate the motor park to enable them to investigate the incident.
Subsequently all the luxury buses moved to their old park, which is about one kilometre away from the new park.
Bomb disposal unit operatives cordoned off the area, but it was not certain whether any other explosive device was discovered or not.
However two people were whisked away by the police to an undisclosed place.
All efforts made to get the comments of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Idris Ibrahim and the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Magaji Majiya, over the incident failed.