‘Police have highest number of dismissed officers’

The Nigeria Police Force Pioneer Chaplains have said that the police have the highest number of dismissed officers in the civil service because the organisation did not condone corruption and indiscipline among its personnel.

It stated that the issue of corruption in the police was not institutional, but societal and personal, insisting that corruption was a Nigerian problem and not a police issue as widely believed.

The Force Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Raphael Fagbohun, who said this at a news briefing to mark the 7th anniversary of the chaplaincy in Abuja on Thursday, pointed out that the problem of Nigeria was political tribalism and false religiosity, which he said the chaplaincy was dealing with to ensure that the vices did not destroy the spiritual growth of police officers.

The cleric explained that the chaplaincy had been striving to change corrupt police officers while strengthening the disciplined ones spiritually through counsels and prayers, adding that about 102 trained and commissioned pastors and imams were in the police force.

Fagbohun warned religious leaders against interfering in the affairs of the police chaplaincy and trespassing in police chapels, noting that the Force chaplaincy was not a religious denomination or an appendage of any religious group.

According to him, no religious group or denomination should involve the force chaplaincy in “religious politics.”

He stressed that the police chaplains were members of the NPF and not a church or denomination workers.

He warned police chaplains, who cannot fit into the department without exhibiting religious bigotry and denominational sentiments to resign instead of causing confusion in the system.

He said, “The police have the highest number of dismissals in the civil service which showed that the organisation does not condone corruption or indiscipline. The chaplaincy needs to move forward without external distractions caused by political tribalism and false religiosity.”

PUNCH