How Buhari picked Idris as Acting IGP

Barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Ibrahim Idris Kpotum as the new Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), news filtered out on how Idris became the chosen one.

According to sources, the battle for the successor of outgoing IGP, Solomon Arase, started months ago.

Although many names were penciled down for the post, but the final battle raged between Idris and the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Bala Hassan, in charge of Zone II, Onikan, Lagos State.

The atmosphere was said to have become tensed when the names narrowed from eight to four.

It was gathered that Hassan lost to Idris because of issues relating to security achievements. While Hassan has daunting educational qualifications, Idris has other sterling qualities that finally saw the baton swinging to his side.

Hassan was also knocked out because of the geo-political area he came from.

A source said: “The list was pruned down to eight contesters, but later narrowed down to four, then later two. The final four were AIG Prince Umar Manko, AIG Bala Hassan, AIG Ibrahim Idris and a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Saliu Arungu Hashimu, in charge of Training. The new IGP and Hassan were the final candidates that were penciled down as the final candidates.”

The source continued: “Hassan lost because from 1999 till date, his geo-political zone, which he came from, has produced four IGPs, including Hafiz Ringim, Mohammed Abubakar and Suleiman Abba. But North-central, where Idris came from, has never produced any IGP. Idris is from Niger State.”

Another source however argued that Idris was simply picked because he was the former Commissioner of Police in Kano State, during the 2015 elections, where the All Progressive Congress (APC), recorded the highest number of voters during the presidential election.

Another further source quipped: “Many contesters vied for the post of the IG. The contesters met with influential Nigerians. Some met with Babaginda and Abdul Salam to push their candidateship. At the end of the day, their profiles were checked.”

However, some factors allegedly gave Idris an edge over others. One of the factors was that while he was the Kano State Commissioner of Police, he foiled three Boko Haram attempts. He was able to check the activities of cattle rustlers. He arrested many and it reduced cattle rustling. While he was CP Nassarawa State, he was able to stop a bloody clash between Nassarawa and Benue people.

Arase’s lieutenants, Deputy Inspectors General of Police, who served with him, will also be packing their property in preparation to leave their offices.

Although many of them have not reached retirement age, but the police tradition is that all DIGs would embark on compulsory retirement since they are all senior to Idris, the new acting IGP.

The Police Service Commission (PSC) is expected to soon release the names of the new DIGs. The new DIGs are expected to be picked from Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIG) and Commissioners of Police (CP).

A police source said: “The DIGs would be leaving immediately with Solomon Arase.  Nobody can say for now, those who would be picked as DIGs. It’s however clear that Commissioners of Police could be given double promotions to become DIGs. But it all depends on their geo-political zones and the discretion of the Police Service Commission.”