It has happened again.
In what has become a tradition in the Nigeria Police Force, whenever an Assistant Inspector- General of Police is appointed Inspector General, IGP, the axe has fallen on seven Deputy Inspector-Generals of Police, DIGs.
Their careers may have been amputated by the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Adamu, who, according to some online news portals which quoted some anonymous sources, has approved their retirement.
The affected officers, caught by the web of waste, had been Adamu’s seniors before he was recently picked to succeed Mr. Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, the immediate past IGP.
However, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, feigned ignorance of the story on Sunday when he told Vanguard newspaper that he was not aware of the development.
“I have no information on that,” Mbah told the newspaper. “I just did a press release today and I think if there was something as such, I should have spoken on that. Why don’t you ask the Police Service Commission? They are actually the appropriate authority to speak on that and not me when it comes to matters like that. “This is outside the administrative and operational matters,” Mr Mbah said.
An online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES listed the affected officers as including: Maigari Dikko, DIG in charge of finance and administration; Habila Joshak, DIG in charge of operations; Emmanuel Inyang (information and communications technology); Agboola Oshodi-Glover (logistics and supply); Mohammed Katsina (research and planning); Sani Mohammed (training and development); and Peace Ibekwe-Abdallah (federal criminal investigation and intelligence).
All the affected DIGs, and eight assistant inspector-generals were reported to have joined the force before Mr. Adamu.
The wasteful convention was also applied when Idris was appointed to succeed the then IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase, in 2016. The appointment triggered a tsunami that swept off the jobs of over 20 DIGs and AIGs who were forced to retire from service to enable the new IGP constitute his management team.
The latest retirements will be announced shortly.
