*PSC CONDEMS REPORT
INSISTS ITS CHAIRMAN NEVER MADE SUCH COMMENT
The
attention of the Police Service Commission has been drawn to a front page lead story
in The Authority Newspaper of today
Thursday, December 8th 2016 where its Honourable Chairman, Sir. Dr.
Mike Mbama Okiro, a retired Inspector General of Police, was quoted to have
said that the Federal Character principle should be blamed for the
marginalization of the Igbo in the senior cadre of the Nigeria Police Force.
The Commission
notes the statistics published by the Newspaper on the spread of Officers on
the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Cadre and that of Commissioner of Police
where it erroneously stated that out of the 24 AIGs presently in the Nigeria
Police Force, none is an Igbo man.
The Igbo have serving AIGs in the Nigeria
Police Force. They include AIG Paul E OKafor from Anambra State who is
presently AIG zone 11, Osogbo, and AIG Charles Ugomouh from Aboh Mbaise, Imo
State who is the AIG in charge of Medical Services, Animal Branch. AIG Isaac
Eke was, until recently, the AIG in charge of Zone 5 Benin. There are also more
than six Commissioners of Police from the Igbo extraction.
For the
avoidance of doubt, the Commission wishes to state that the publication was
misleading and baseless, capable of igniting ethnic crisis.
The Chairman
of the Commission did not at any time blame the principle of federal character
for shortchanging the South East Police Officers in their advancement to the
top hierarchy of the Force, nor did he say that the Igbo have no AIG out of the
24 AIGs. As a former Inspector General
of Police, Dr. Okiro knows more than enough that career progression in the
Nigeria Police force is not based on federal Character. He knows, and has
superintended over a Commission that has continued to place premium on merit,
seniority and availability of vacancies as bases for promotion in the Nigeria
Police Force.
For years
now, promotion in the Nigeria Police Force from the rank of Constable to AIG
has been strictly based on the above criteria and not on federal character or
any other consideration. Federal Character is used only at the three entry
points into the Nigeria Police Force – Constable, Cadet Inspector and Cadet
ASP.
It is
necessary to state that the spread of senior police officers remain flexible as
officers are promoted as their seniors retire or exit the service through
retirement or death. And since promotions are based on merit and seniority, any
tribe at any time could dominate the cadres in the senior hierarchy of the
force.
The
Commission will remain resolute in its commitment to equity, fairness and merit
in its management of its constitutional responsibilities and will also be
guided by the rule of law and fear of God.
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