Spokesman for the Nigeria Police, Mr. Frank Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), has blamed his Igbo ethnic group for their woes in the police under the watch of the Inspector General, Mohammed Abubakar.

Reacting to last week Monday’s petition by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) seeking President Goodluck Jonathan’s intervention to reverse Abubakar’s discrimination against Igbo police officers, Mba told the Lagos-based Daily Newswatch: “It’s quite unfortunate that the IGP is being accused of ethnicity, because he has nothing to do with the promotion and the discipline of officers. The duty falls on the Police Service Commission; it is the Commission that has the authority to promote and discipline NPF officers. They are just wrongly accusing him because they don’t know how the Constitution of the Police works.”

H added: “There can never be more than one IGP and eight DIGs at a time, and if some officers from a particular ethnic group in the country decided to retire or opt out of the service to do businesses like importing containers, thereby giving room for other ethnic group to get promoted when it’s promotion time, then the IGP is not to be blamed at all. If a particular tribe joined the service years after (members of) another ethnic group were recruited, you don’t expect the ones that joined late to be promoted before the ones that were the first to be recruited.”

Contacted by News Express for his reaction, Intersociety Board Chairman, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi, described Mba’s claims as unfortunate, especially coming from an Igbo man. He said Intersociety stood by its petition and was preparing a statement on Mba’s outburst.

•Photo shows Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba.