The Task Before IG Abba

Nigerians were not excited recently after Mr Suleiman Abba was appointed as the new Inspector-General of the Police, though in acting capacity. He was until his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan an Assistant Inspector-General of Police.

The indifference by Nigerians to the appointment of Abba stems from the fact that in the last few years, none of the Inspectors-General that led the Nigeria Police satisfactorily met the expectations of Nigerians. Rather, the force has declined abysmally in terms of professionalism and poor disposition towards members of the public. We hope Abba has come to make a difference by sanitising the force as quickly as possible.

Among the nation’s security agencies, the Nigeria Police is the worst in terms of human rights abuses, corruption and lack of integrity. The bad eggs in the law enforcement agency are more than the number of officers of the force who are upright and passionate about making a difference.

Indiscipline is very high among the officers. This is underlined by the flouting of directives by their bosses. A case in point was a directive from Mohammed Abubakar, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police disbanding road-blocks, which was ignored. Illegal road blocks still flourish on the nation’s high ways.

 The police still persist in carrying out extra-judicial killings of suspects as well as innocent Nigerians for an “offence” as little as refusal to part with a bribe of N50 at roadblocks. The “Police are your friends” is a popular mantra in the country, yet many Nigerians have sour tales to tell about their encounters with the Nigerian Police. Even now, armed officers of the force parade streets arresting Nigerians indiscriminately all in the guise of ensuring security.

While many innocent Nigerians arrested by the police are forced to bail themselves, the few others who cannot afford the bail condition, usually money, are made to face the law by being paraded as armed robbers. The police are also known to swap innocent suspects in their cells with hardened criminals who bribe their way out of jail. The case of Mr. Calistus Ike, who was allegedly slammed with fake charges and thereafter sentenced to death for refusing to bribe a policeman with N200 is fresh in the minds of Nigerians. Ike, who spent 16 years on death row, had previously spent seven years as an awaiting trial inmate.

With an endless list of crimes against humanity committed by the bad eggs in the police force, Abba does not need to be reminded that he has a lot of work to do. Leadership, in the case of the Nigeria Police, is not a tea party. He must hit the ground sanitising the force by weeding out all  those giving it a bad name. Abba himself mus lead by example to be taken seriously. He will also have his hands full fighting the worst security challenges Nigeria has ever faced.