- Intrigues, Power Play Of Their Retirements
- Officers Set To Fight Back, May Expose New IG
The last may not have been heard about the purge in the top hierarchy of
the Nigerian Police last week, by the presidency following revelations that some of them may have had links with the now popular Dasukigate.
nationalTRAIL investigations reveal that, the Committee set up by the Federal Government, to look into the slush fund account
coordinated by the office of the embattled former National security Adviser, Ahmed Dasuki, has linked some of the retired
Deputy Inspectors General and the Assistant Inspectors General of Police to the disbursement of the funds.
According to source privy “virtually all of them were said to have received N=200,000,000 from the office of the Security Adviser in the run up to the 2015 general elections and they have not been able to give account of how the money was spent”. “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has all the detail of the transactions and in a bid to cover up, the immediate past Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, had deployed another officer (name withheld) to the commission, designated for the office of the Director of Operations, which the acting Chairman turned down. Rather than admitting the truth, they went viral accusing the chairman of rejecting the officer on the ground that he is an Ibo man”. The decision to retire the Deputy Inspectors General and the Assistant Inspectors General, our source claimed was taken well ahead the retirement of Solomon
Arase, as the Inspector General of police, after an investigation into the activities of the retired officers revealed that they were massively enriched with huge money in their accounts and Houses in Nigeria and Europe. nationalTRAIL learnt that it was not a surprise that the immediate past police boss, Arase, acting a script sent the list of 2,058 to the Police Service Commission for promotion, which included the upgrade of a commissioner to Assistant inspector General, 59 superintendents to Chief Superintendents of Police and Deputy superintendents to Superintendents, among others. The retirement of the 20 Assistant Inspectors General of Police, some of whom have been described as being very knowledgeable in police job, our sources confirmed may not be unconnected with alleged suppressed reports on widespread corruption within the service, which the top echelon is perceived to have condoned, is generating bad blood. “Few hours before the announcement of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Kpokum Idris, the DIGs and AIGs were said to have enlisted the support of the Chairman of the police Service Commission, Mr Mike Okiro, to appeal to the Presidency to save their jobs”, said the source. The Police Service Commission, had assured them that they would not be retired as some of them had three years to the end of their service, with others even less. Sources in the office of the new IG told our correspondent that, in a meeting with Okiro, the Acting Inspector General hinted he will shut his door against the AIGs and the DIGs before writing to the presidency for their retirement. Earlier, Comfort Obi, the Secretary of the Commission, had in a telephone interview denied knowledge of the letter sent to Presidency by the Acting Inspector General, Idris. But the letter, exclusively obtained by nationalTRAIL, indicates that, Idris, had appealed to the president to retire the AIGs and DIGs, if he must achieve his target as the number one police officer in Nigeria. The letter to the President was kept away from the Commission, twenty four hours before the approval by President Mohammad Buhari, and forwarded to the Commission, while the embattled AIGs and DIGs, were meeting in his House in Abuja. Sources within the commission who would not want his name mentioned confirmed this much but insisted that “The commission is not aware of how they AIGs managed the election funds, but it is normal during election to vote money to security agencies including police for the exercise” He said. Investigations reveal that, the retired officers may not go quietly,
as some of them are getting set toi challenge the integrity mantra associated with the new acting IG, saying, the issue of integrity was just an alibi to weed them out of the system having been perceived as posing threats to President Buhari’s plans. As it is, sources said the properties of all the retired senior officers, both at home and abroad as well as funds available to them in banks have been brought under scrutiny, and the EFCC may invite some of them soon to clarify certain ambiguities in their assets declarations, which were in contrast with their actual assets as verified. Our correspondent learnt that, the Acting IG, who was amongst officers initially investigated to ascertain their integrity as a precondition for appointment or promotion to higher rank, had told president Buhari, that only a massive purge in the Police could correct the negative connotations associated with the force.
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