The newly appointed acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Wednesday expressed disappointment at the present state of the Nigeria Police Force, vowing to reposition it as quickly as possible.
He also warned police personel against engaging in conduct capable of not only ruining the image of the Force but also putting their careers in jeopardy, stating that a mass redeployment of personel of the force would be affected in the coming days.
Adamu, who noted that the image of the force was dwindling unimaginably, said his appointment did not only represent a call to duty but also a charge to restore what he described as the dwindling primacy of the Nigeria Police Force within the internal security architecture of the country.
The new police chief spoke at the handing and taking over ceremony between him and his predecessor, Idris Abubakar, at Force Headquarters, Abuja.
Noting that commanding the largest police force in Africa, particularly at a time Nigeria was faced with daunting security challenges, Adamu said the Nigeria Police was blessed with with some of the finest officers anywhere in the world.
According to him, the officers and men are professional dedicated to their jobs to be able to surmount the challenges, if the right leadership was provided.
He said: “Among you seated in this hall today are some of such thorough-bred and passionate professionals who can hold their own among their peers,and have consistently distinguished themselves in complex national and international engagements.
“All that you desire, from my experience, is a transparent, responsive, motivational, accountable and knowledgeable leader who will not only treat you with the dignity you deserve in your line of duty, but also sensitive to your welfare needs and fair in manner your promotion and other reward regimes are addressed.
“It is my firm conviction, therefore, that if the quality personel potentials of the Force are blended with purposeful and motivational leadership at strategic levels within the organizational hierarchy of the Force, the lost glory of the Nigeria Police Force, which remains a concern to governments at all levels, citizens, human rights groups, the international community and, indeed, well-meaning officers and men of the Force shall be restored.
“With my appointment and assumption of duty, I am determined to draw on my national and international policing leadership experience to bridge this missing link.
“I assure you on this day that I will provide the highest possible level of professional and responsible leadership for you, while trusting that you shall march hand-in-hand with me as dependable professional colleagues to advance the fortunes of the Force.
“I demand that you, henceforth, resolve to abstain from conducts that will drag the police into disrepute and put your career in jeopardy, and join me in the common course of changing the narrative of policing in the country for good.
”In giving effect to this, in the coming days, I shall unfold before you and the nation the strategic focus of my leadership..”
He reminded police personel that aside from their routine operations, they had within the short term two major national assignments where their their “professionalism and commitment to duty will once again be subjected to national and international scrutiny.
“First, is the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 16, 2019, and second, is the Governorship, State Assembly and Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections on Saturday, March 2, 2019.
“These national engagements are of immediate priority to my leadership and, hence, in the next few days, the nation shall witness concerted police deployments and other activities which will all be directed at ensuring quality election security services delivery by the police, being the lead agency in election security management.
“While with your support, I am confident that we have the operational capacity to ensure the success of both exercises, I am not aware of the possible security threats that some misguided political actors and their followers may attempt to pose during the general elections.
“To such elements, I must sound a note of warning that as a nation, we have had enough of electoral violence, hence, while the Nigeria Police under my watch shall work with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and sister security agencies in guaranteeing a peaceful and secure space for all political parties and the citizens to freely exercise their electoral rights,we shall not hesitate to identify, isolate and bring to deserved justice to any person or group that attempt to threaten our sacred democratic order.
”To the unrepentant felons that may wish to put our common will to test, the message is being relayed here loud and clear that in securing the law abiding citizens during the elections, we shall not hesitate to deploy our potent assests to deal firmly and decisively with electoral deviants.
“Consequently, I call on political actors to assist the police and other law enforcement agencies in sustaining the gains recorded in our democratic journey.
“They should always remember that politics is a game guided by rules and it behoves them to play the game within the dictates of such rules.
“On our part, we assure the nation of our determination to play our roles fairly but firmly towards guaranteeing a peaceful electoral process and a credible outcome.”
Also Wednesday, the acting IGP appointed ACP Frank Mba as the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Nigeria Police.
He also appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Idowu Ohonhuwa as the Principal Staff Officer.
Until his appointment, Ohonhuwa was at the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
He was a onetime Principal Staff Officer at Force headquarters and hails from Kogi State.
On his part Mba a one-time Lagos State Command Public Relations Officer, and Area Commander in Oshogbo, studied law at the University of Lagos and was called to the bar in 2002.
The police spokesman, who hails from Ezimo in Udenu local government area of Enugu State, was the best graduating cadet inspector in academics at the Police Academy, Kano, in 1993.
He rose up the police ladder and was promoted to assistant superintendent of police in 1999, deputy superintendent of police in 2003, superintendent of police in 2006 and chief superintendent of police in 2012.
Mba had served as the Force PRO under the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar from 2012 to 2014.
Meanwhile, the Police Service Commission, PSC, has warned against illegal transfer of police commissioners, ahead of the 2019 elections.
Speaking Wednesday on the recent transfers in the force, the PSC commissioner, Hajiya Naja’atu Muhammad, told newsmen at the police headquarters in Jigawa State that every transfer carried out by the police without the endorsement of the police service commission, PSC, was null and void.
“What has happened in the past is that the former commission abdicated their responsibilities and handed it over to the IG, it has never been the responsibility of the IG to make transfers,” she said.
She said Nigerians must be aware that there were some illegalities in the past, stressing that the PSC intended to stop every form of illegalities.
