Date Published: 06/16/09
WHO BECOMES THE NEW INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE?
BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO
In a couple of weeks, the President, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua is expected to name who he has decided to appoint as the next Inspector General of Police to succeed the retiring police chief Sir. Mike Okiro who is expected to take a dignified exit by July 1 st 2009. The appointment of the Inspector General of Police by the President is in compliance with section 215[1] of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That relevant section of the nation’s supreme body of laws stated as follows; ‘’There SHALL be an Inspector General of Police who, subject to section 216[2] of this constitution shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigerian Police Force’’. Section 216[2] provides that before making appointment to the office of the Inspector General of Police or removing him from office the President shall consult the Nigeria Police Council. By and large, the bulk of the work of appointing the Inspector General of Police is at the exclusive discretion of the President.
Since the beginning of the Year, political intrigues have characterized the making of the decision by the President to appoint the new Inspector General of Police and several names have been publicized as possible successors. Among these names, that of Deputy Inspector General of Police Mr. Ogbonnaya Onovo stands out as the most qualified person to be so appointed by the President to the office of the Inspector General of Police. Among the salient points in favour of appointing Ogbonnaya Onovo is the fact that he is the most senior Deputy Inspector General of Police among the eight Deputy Inspectors General of Police in the Country and that apart from the fact that he is very vastly experienced and untainted with any scandal of any shade, shape or colour even when he held the very high profile appointment as the head of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency [NDLEA]. Another issue that stands in his favour is the fact that appointing Ogbonaya Onovo will literarily wipe away the tears of millions of his country people from the South Eastern axis of our great Fatherland who feel strongly alienated from the mainstream of the Nigeria Police since the end of the fratricidal civil war more than four decades ago. The appointment of Onovo by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua would be viewed by a lot of people not just the Igbo speaking people around the World as the end of the systemic marginalization of the Igbo tribe in the Nigeria Police because it has virtually assumed a national policy that no Igbo man will ever be allowed to take up the appointment of the Inspector General of Police. Those who hold the view that there is a policy in place to exclude the Igbo from reaching the pinnacle of their professional calling in the Nigeria Police points to the undeniable fact that either by design or accident of history, no Igbo officer has been so appointed since Nigeria became Independent in 1960. It is thus believed that though the Nigeria-Biafra civil war ended in late 1969, the war against Igbo officers in the Nigeria Police and the creation of a truly Nigeria Police in the perception of all Nigerians will come to fruition if the current administration that has being accused severally of appointing only Northerners to very sensitive places in the Federal Government decides to make history by appointing an Igbo Police Officer as the next Inspector General of Police come July 2009. This writer shares the position that the appointment of Ogbonaya Onovo will be the best thing to happen in the Nigeria Police since four decades now not necessarily because we share the same Ethnic background with him but importantly because it will mark a watershed and will signpost to the rest of the World that the current administration is determined to put round pegs in round holes and to respect the Constitutionally guaranteed Federal Character principle. My underlying reason in advancing this perspective is that I believe just like most rational analysts that the best way to rescue the Nigeria Police from its current backward position and the terrible image problem that it is facing is by the appointing authority demonstrating by word and deed that the appointment of the new Inspector General of police will respect merit and ensure that police leadership and professionalism are blended. The most fundamental reason why police leadership ought to be blended with professionalism is because according to what a study group found out that the Nigeria Police has become transparently ineffective and even inefficient and that the Nigeria Police Force should be made to perform what it can better if properly reoriented and reorganized to attain the professionalism that it now lacks. A. Suleiman writing in the book POLICING NIGERIA, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, stated that; ‘’What can be inferred from the preceding sampling of the findings of the study group on law and order, is that the neglect, if not outright abandonment of service values had divided the force, undermined professional methods and practices, to the detriment of public order and security’’.
Suleiman noted thus; ‘’There are five imperatives which should be the preoccupation of police leadership and professionalism today and tomorrow if that objective is to be attained. The first imperative in order of priority, should be the restoration of service values, as motivational properties to the human machine, the instilling and inculcation of the ethics of police professionalism not merely as an ideal, but for real or reality in the daily performance of the police function. The second is the restoration of skills in the prevention, detection and proof of crime and the maintenance of public tranquillity....’’
Like Suleiman I think the most important way for the Police to once more regain the public confidence of Nigerians is for the Inspector General of Police never to forget that he needs something more than leadership qualities and professional skills to succeed in his calling and some of these qualities include diplomacy, tact and negotiation skills to attract better funding for the Nigeria Police and he needs to insist that the right things are done rightly and that the rule of law is strictly enforced so as to nurture the growth of democracy in the Country.
+Emmanuel Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.
