The Police Council, chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, has confirmed the appointment of the new inspector general of police (IGP), Solomon Arase.
This is even as the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mike Okiro, said the immediate past IGP was sacked following the gross indiscipline amongst men of the force during his tenure of office.
Arase, who was appointed by the president as the acting IGP following the sack of his boss, the immediate past IGP, Suleiman Abba, on April 21, has been on acting capacity for three weeks now.
Emerging from a meeting with the president, Vice President Namadi Sambo and Okiro, the now substantive IGP told journalists that the welfare of his men will be “number one on my cardinal responsibilities. You don’t motivate a workforce except their welfare is paramount. I’m going to ensure that their welfare is going to be put on the front burner”.
He said though the expectations of Nigerians are high, “I can assure them that no Nigerian will suffer any injustice by my inaction or action”.
On his order banning road blocks, Arase said there was already an enforcement policy in place, adding that sixteen teams have already moved out across the length and breadth of this country to ensure there is strict compliance to that order.
Meanwhile, responding to questions from journalists on the sack of the former IGP, Okiro said at the council, which also discussed the security situation in the country, the president disclosed that indiscipline was the bane of his (Abba) tenure.
“I may not attempt to answer that question because I’m not part of the presidency that removed him, so I cannot give adequate answer.
“Though at the meeting there he tried to explain to members based on the question raised by one of the governors that Nigerians may want to know why the former IGP was removed.
“The president, in a very brief way, said during the period of the former IGP, a lot of indiscipline was noticed among the rank and file of the police and as such he felt that a new IGP should come and try his luck. That is what he said, though I cannot give details of that”, he said.
ELIZABETH ARCHIBONG
