Jonathan orders sack of top police officers. . It’s a ploy to rig 2015 —Tsav President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday directed the chairman of the Police Service Commission Mike Okiro to purge the Nigeria Police Force of top officers who do not merit their ranks. Jonathan gave the directive at the State House in Abuja after swearing in Okiro as the new chairman of the Police Service Commission and five other members including Yakubu Mohammed, Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye, Aisha Tukur, Comfort Obi and Tonye Anyim. Official figure of the Nigeria Police Force stands at 375, 000 but those to be affected by the presidential directive are those on the ranks of Assistant Commissioner and above. The president declared that it is preferable to have inadequate manpower in the police force than to have ‘viruses and all kinds of characters’ there. He noted that the performances of the police, military and paramilitary officers were abysmal because competence and merit were being compromised in promoting them. “And that is one area I believe you will go into. People who are promoted to assistant police commissioner and above must merit the rank. If you don’t merit the rank you should be retired from the service because it is better for you not to have enough manpower than for you to have viruses and all kinds of characters in the police force,” the president said. President Jonathan disclosed that when the Force Headquarters was bombed in 2011, he was advised to sack all the police officers working there from the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police and above for ineptitude. The president said he did not heed the advice, but he believed that apart from indiscipline in the force, top police officers were being promoted undeservedly. “When the Police Headquarters was bombed, some people came to me and say Mr. President, sack all police officers working in that place from Assistant Commissioner of Police and above. I did not sack any because of that incident, but that was the advice I got,” he revealed. He said he was told that if he swept the force that way, subsequent officers that would be posted there would sit up. “How could the police allow their headquarters to be bombed by a very local group called Boko Haram?” the President querried. After the bombing of the headquarters, then Inspector General Hafiz Ringim and six DIGs were retired. But reacting to Jonathan’s directive, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, said he believed it was a ploy to plant election riggers for 2015. Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, the retired police commissioner said: “The president is targeting job slots for political thugs. This action will create vacancies for them to be planted in the force so that they can be put in strategic positions to aid the snatching and stuffing of ballot boxes in 2015,” he said. Tsav also said the directive was targeted at discrediting Pari Osayande, the former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC). “The outcome is obvious – it is to discredit Osayande and make him look like he is incompetent; it is to make him look like he was the problem of the police. The president is targeting Osayande, to destroy him,” he said, asking why this measure was not taken until now. But President Jonathan stressed his reasons thus: “I believe there are two things. One is the issue of discipline. So, one of the responsibilities of the Police Service Commission is to instil discipline. Another thing I believe is that people who have no merit to certain ranks are being promoted to those ranks. “One of your (PSC) responsibilities is to handle promotion. I believe with you (Okiro), only those who merit or deserve promotion should be promoted. Those who deserve to be disciplined or dismissed must be disciplined. Jonathan also disclosed that five of the six senior Immigration officers recently presented to him for appointment as Comptroller General were not qualified, and were even supposed to have been dismissed from the service. “Among them only one is qualified to even stay and serve. Others ordinarily are supposed to be dismissed from the records. I believe that the story of the Immigration is the same with most of our services. I believe that is why the performance of some of our military and paramilitary officers is abysmal, because the yardstick being used for promotion is not based on competence, merit and performance,” he said. ................ —DAILY TRUST
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:03:50 +0000
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