Tag Archives: abba

Arase Confirmed IGP As Jonathan Gives Reasons Abba Was Sacked

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The Police Council yesterday confirmed Mr Solomon Arase as the new Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

His confirmation came exactly three weeks when he was appointed ?Acting IGP on April 21 after President Goodluck Jonathan sacked former IGP Suleiman Abba.

Arase,  who is the 18th  IGP, is one of the fastest police bosses to be confirmed.

This is even as President Jonathan explained that Abba was sacked because  the rank and file under him were very indisciplined.

Arase told State House correspondents, “?I have just been confirmed.”

The IGP said: “We talked about the security challenges we are having? and our strategic responses to addressing them. I can assure Nigerians that we are going to address these issues”.

On what he was bringing on board since his confirmation was coming at a time Nigeria is said to be experiencing the worst security situation in recent times, he said, “No, I don’t think that is true. ?I don’t think it is the worst security situation we are facing. There is no society that is actually crime-free, but we are trying to ensure that it is within tolerable level. It is not as bad as the public perceived it.

To his officers and men as well as Nigerians; Arase said: “To my men, I will tell them that their welfare will be number one on ?my cardinal responsibilities. You don’t motivate a workforce except their welfare is paramount. I’m going to ensure that their welfare is going to be put on the front burner.

“To Nigerians, I know that their expectations are high, but I can assure them that no Nigerian will suffer any injustice by my inaction or action”.

On the banning of roadblocks, he said, “we already have an enforcement policy in place. Sixteen teams have moved out across the length and breadth of this country to ensure there is strict compliance to that order”.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Police Service Commission and former IGP, Sir Mike Okiro, said the council discussed issues bordering on security and how to ensure that Nigerians live in peace.

On why Abba was removed, Okiro said going by the explanation President Jonathan gave when one of the governors raised the question, the rank and file under him were very indisciplined.

Okiro said: “I may not attempt to answer that question because I’m not part of the Presidency that removed him, so I cannot give adequate answer. Though at the meeting, he tried to explain to members, based on the question raised by one of the governors that Nigerians may want to know why the former IGP was removed.

“The President, very briefly said, during the period of the former IGP, a lot of indiscipline was noticed among the rank and file of the police and as such, he felt that a new IGP should come and try his luck. That is what he said, though I cannot give details of that.” Okiro noted.

Credit: sunnewsonline

‘I Did The Right Things During The Elections’ – Sacked IGP Abba

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The former inspector general of police, Suleiman Abba, has said he did his very best and delivered a credible and peaceful election to the country during the 2015 general elections.

Abba was sacked on Tuesday in a statement by the Presidency who said the sack was with immediate effect. He was replaced by Solomon Arase, the former DIG in charge of Force Intelligence.

Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja, Abba said, “I want to thank the Almighty God, for seeing me into the office of IGP; like He said, He gives and He takes and He is also seeing me out as the IGP, particularly, when it is in good health and with the ovation I’m getting from my colleagues.

“To my colleagues, I know you have seen it all.

We started at a time that was very difficult in Nigerian history, a time when politics had picked up. We were getting ready for the elections and our whole attention, I would say, was on the elections, even though we kept on doing our best in managing our day to day activities.

“My happiness is that we have gone through it; the elections are almost over. I want to seize this opportunity to thank everyone, all stakeholders with regards to the 2015 elections for making it not only a reality, but also making it credible.

“I want to say that I want to move on with my life believing that life has steps and it is a journey.”

Abba’s Sacking Immediately After Elections Suspicious – ACF

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The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has demanded explanations from President Goodluck Jonathan over his sacking of the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba on Tuesday.

President Jonathan had sacked the Police chief yesterday, giving no reason for his sack. He also appointed an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, as the acting IG.

Chairman of the forum and a former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, who spoke to Channels Television in an interview, pointed out that the sacking of the IGP few days after the last general elections and just over a month to the handover of power to a new government is suspicious and raised questions of a political motive.

Mr. Coomasie noted that rather than removing Mr Abba unceremoniously, what the president ought to have done was allow him to continue in office until the next government comes in and determine his fate alongside other service chiefs, most of whom have been accused one time or the other of being partisan.

He insisted that the president’s sacking of Mr. Abba while retaining other service chiefs has created room for suspicion on what could be the motive behind his action.

The ACF Chairman, therefore, called on President Jonathan to explain to Nigerians, his reason for sacking the former IGP in order not to give room for speculations and allegations from different quarters.

Jega Replies Police IG: You Can Wait And Protect Your Vote After Voting

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The Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, on Friday clashed over the police chief’s warning to Nigerians to “vote and go home.”
While the IGP had warned voters to go back to their homes immediately after casting their votes on election days, Jega said the electoral law did not state that voters could not or should not wait to watch and ensure that their votes are not manipulated.

The INEC chairman, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said there is no part of the Electoral Act that forbids voters from waiting around the polling booths.

However, the All Progressives Congress tackled the IGP over the “unlawful order.”
In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party asked voters to rather listen to Jega and stayed behind to protect their votes after casting their ballots.

The statement read, “According to Jega, who appeared on Channels TV on Friday morning, the electoral law says anyone that has no business with the electoral process at the polling booths but desires to monitor events should stay at least some metres away from the polling agents and completely away from the ballot box after casting their votes.

“The INEC Chairman further clarified that all registered voters have businesses with the process and can therefore not be classified as people that don’t have businesses at polling units.

“Therefore, the IGP has no constitutional right or powers under the constitution or Police Act to rewrite the electoral law. The role of the police is to maintain law and order or such other assistance as may be sought from the police by INEC.”

 

Re: No Waiting At Polling Booths After Voting By Adeola Austin Oyinlade

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ADEOLA AUSTIN OYINLADE, LLB, BL, LLM, United Nations Peace Ambassador
Email: adeolaaustinoyinlade81@gmail.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________
20th March, 2015
Mr. Suleiman Abba,
The Inspector-General of Police,
The Nigeria Police Force Headquarters,
Louis Edet House,
Abuja, Nigeria.

Dear Sir,
RE: NO WAITING AT POLLING BOOTHS AFTER VOTING
I want to commend you sir for the adequate preparation of the Nigeria Police Force in order to record violence-free, fair and credible 2015 general elections. I also want to use this opportunity to commend our service men and women for ensuring protection of lives and properties in Nigeria. No matter the reservation anyone has for the Nigerian police force, I make bold to say that without you and our officers on ground, lives will be ‘nasty, brutish and short’ in the words of Thomas Hobbes.
Kindly permit me to use this open letter as a concerned citizen of Nigeria to ask for your clarification on a statement credited to you sir and widely reported on the pages of Newspapers. A good example is the one on the front page and page 2 of The Punch Newspaper titled “No waiting at polling booths after voting – IG”, dated March 20, 2015. I understand that open letters in the last two years have served different purposes for different individuals, but this only seeks your clarification on what appeared not to be cleared to me and other well meaning Nigerians.
In view of the above statement credited to you sir, could it be possible to say that was an order or a piece of advice to Nigerians? As a lawyer, I have tried in vain to see whether such assertion has any force of law as no law stipulates a time where any eligible voters must vacate the polling booths. I have also checked my primary and secondary sources of law and I can say that there is no law in force in Nigeria against eligible voters from witnessing the count of ballot papers after voting.
I read that your justification for the declaration was that “the possibility of committing electoral offence was very high if voters stayed back at the polling booths for votes to be counted.” I strongly believe that the essence of security in this task is not only to protect INEC officials and electoral materials but also the citizens. I also believe that the police can invoke their power of arrest under the Police Act against anyone who may want to breach public peace before, during and after elections.
Sir, you will agree with me that the political atmosphere of Nigeria is tensed at the moment. The attention of the whole world is on Nigeria as we go to the polls. As a United Nations Peace Ambassador and resource person to African Union on the implementation of African Youth Charter, UNESCO and UNDP, I have being privileged to hear from people within and outside Nigeria their expectations about the coming polls. While I believe that waiting till ballot papers are counted will see the process to the legitimate end, I also believe too that seeing voters standing and with our service men and women on ground can make anyone planning to steal ballot boxes to have a rethink rather than asking eligible voters to leave.
I want to thank you in anticipation for this clarification.
I wish Nigerians an emphatic success as we decide again.
Yours faithfully,

Adeola Austin Oyinlade Esq

Views expressed are solely that of author and has no association with www.omojuwa.com nor its associates