The Police Service Commission (PSC) has been urged to ensure that justice is done to police officers of Igbo extraction wen the Commission meets tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27, 2021. The main issue on the agenda is said to be the promotion of a new set of senior police officers in readiness for statutory retirement of outgoing IGP, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu. Another is the retirement of a number of other senior police officers who are part of the Nigeria Police Management Team chaired by the outgoing IGP. Three DIGs and ten AIGs are expected to retire with IGP Adamu on February 1, 2021.

Ahead of the meeting, Intersociety wrote to the PSC on January 25 through its Chairman, Retired IGP Musiliu Smith. Entitled “PSC Must Address Igbo Exclusion & Other Glaring Injustices In Police Promotions During Its Jan 27 Sitting”, the letter was signed by Intersociety Board Chair Emeka Umeagbalasi; Head, Democracy & Good Governance, Chinwe Umeche, Esq.; and Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq.

The letter, a copy of which was sighted byNews Express, reads in part:

“As your Commission is likely aware, three DIGs and ten AIGs have reached retirement age and will statutorily retire with IGP Abubakar next Monday, 1st Feb 2021, having joined the Force with the outgoing IGP on 1st Feb 1986. The three retiring DIGs are DIG Baraya, DIG Ogbizi and DIG Oyabade and the ten retiring Police AIGs are: AIG Karma, AIG Larmode, AIG Mustapha, AIG Inakwu, AIG Mava, AIG Babajide, AIG Babas, AIG Amba, AIG Akpan and AIG Adeoye.

“Our writing your Commission, therefore, is to bring to its attention and remind same of the outcries generated by the Commission’s last promotions on 18th Dec 2020. The outcries by the public, public interest groups and direct victims of the shoddy promotions range from deliberate total exclusion of Igbo/Southeast officers from the rank of Police AIG and abysmal allocation of CP slots to the Region as well as padding the lists of those made CPs, DCPs and ACPs and unjust exclusion from the promotion lists of senior officers due for promotion especially those in the rank of ACP scheduled for promotion to the rank of DCP having successfully undergone the mandatory Promotion Exams and Annual Performance Evaluation Reports (APERs).

“It is on account of the above that Intersociety is writing your Commission and calling on same to use the scheduled emergency meeting/sitting to frontally, justly and judiciously address Igbo exclusion and other glaring injustices thrown up in the last promotion exercise which was greeted by widespread outcries and misgivings. The vacuum created by ten retiring AIGs is a golden opportunity for PSC to make amend.Already, fears are growing widely that there may be another round of promotion exercise outside the confines of regional balancing, merit and seniority.

“Unconfirmed reports are also rife that names from certain primordial public figures and clannish interest groups are being forced on the Commission to be considered in the new promotions. We had strongly advised and still advise the PSC strongly too that where, for instance, promotion exercise into any senior ranking is capable of shutting out a particularly Geopolitical Zone or Region such as Southeast, ‘seniority’ principle or policy or rule must be lowered to give room for regional balancing and public explanations to that effect must be given.

“We hereby attach for the perusal of your Commission and as a ‘working document’ our expert-opinion paper, released on 29th Dec 2020. Titled: Inconsistencies In Police Promotions & Many Sins Of PSC And NPF Against Igbo Nation & Southeast Region, the findings made in the four-page investigative report are far-reaching and capable offrontally addressing the named injustices if judiciously studied and acted upon by your Commission. The investigative findings had frowned at total exclusion of Igbo/Southeast from the list of Police AIGs to the extent that out of the country’s 36 serving AIGs and 17 Police Zonal Commands headed by same AIGs, no Igbo/Southeast is among them or heading any of the 17 Zonal Commands headed by AIGs. In the rank of CPs, too, out of the country’s 119, only eight, instead of at least 19, are from Igbo/Southeast and of the eight, only six have a minimum of one year-and-a-half to stay in the Force. It is therefore our firm demand that the glaring injustices above highlighted must be frontally and justly addressed during the scheduled emergency meeting/sitting of your Commission.

“Also to be importantly addressed by your Commission during its scheduled emergency meeting/sitting of 27th Jan is the need to capture the 17 ACPs in the new promotions. It is recalled that their names were stepped down during the Commission’s last promotion exercise on 18th Dec 2020, only for names of eight junior ones to be padded and added in the list of those announced promoted. Another gross injustice to Igbo Society by the PSC which must be addressed and set aside in the 27th Jan meeting/sitting of the PSC is its policy of denying Igbo/Southeast police officers ‘their in-service promotions’ or rankings and promotions while still in service, only to offer them same in retirementstrictly under private arrangements or ‘negotiated settlements’. A typical example was the case of retired CP Uche Anozia from Imo State (S/E) who retired on 19th Sept 2020 but was promoted to the rank of ‘Police AIG’ on 18th Dec 2020, 90 days after his statutory retirement. Such ill-fated policy is undermining and diminishing the collective interests of the Igbo Nation especially as it concerns their ethnic identity, development, security and welfare.

“Finally, the PSC must ensure inexcusably that the 17 ACPs left out in the last 18th Dec 2020 promotions are promoted to their next rank of DCP this time around. This is more so when they were last promoted at different dates in 2016 as against the eight padded names now made DCPs who were promoted last at different dates in 2017 and 2018. The 17 affected ACPs are: Eyitayo Omosayin Olusegun, Abdul Odege Yusuf, Ogbodo Ugbobueze, Nwokolo James Iloegbunam, Ogbeun Jonathan Ibiyinka, Ndukwe Ohagwu Felix, Olarenwaju Taylor Lennox, Ismaila Sa’adatu, Asmiya Irmya, Olabode Adeyeye, Udoette Regina Cosmas, Gbiwen Francis, Afolabi Wilfred, Ehiede Ohiozoba Oyakkhire, Eze Oliver Nnanna and Sani Abdul. Among the seven padded ‘junior’ ACPs who were made new DCPs are: ACPs Mamman Giwa, Tahir Usman, Hassan K. Umar, Bangs K. Gombit, Echo E. Okpoziakpo, Cyriacus Enechukwu and Rosemary Collin.”