Police Inspector General (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun and Chairman of the Police Commission (PSC) Dig Hashimu Argungu (RTD) has been under scrutiny for alleged violations of the Police Methods 20120 infringement in a national command order.
According to the 2020 Police Methods, both the PSC and the IGP have the power to allocate CPS to various state commands. However, the law also outlines clear guidelines for equitable deployment in six geopolitical regions in Nigeria.
Section 12(2) of Part IV of the Act states:
“The Police Department Committee shall assign the Police Chief to the State Command and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from the Police Commissioner appointed by subsection (1).
In addition, Section 12(4) adds:
“The police commissioner or the police attorney general is allocating or deploying…the police commissioner under this section… shall reflect the federal character principles set out in the Constitution and the Related Acts.”
Federal role principles indicate that each state and FCT should be representative between CPS title state commands. Through this logic, the southwest and southern regions should have 6 CPs, five in the southeast, and the north (19 states) should have 19 cps.
However, the results of the Daily Sunshine survey show that the skewed deployment model is said to favor the north and southwest at the expense of the southeast and south.
Currently, 10 CPs from the southwest are reportedly responsible for state commands including Rivers, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, Ogun, Cross River and Plateau. In contrast, there are only two CPs in the south, and another CP from the southeast is ruling the state headquarters. It is reported that 23 CPs in the north are in charge.
This imbalance reportedly triggered dissatisfaction within the troops.
A retired police officer declined to be named, saying:It is a violation of the Police Act if each state does not generate a CP for the State Command at any given time. ”
Another retired assistant inspector general added: “There are no commissioners from the southeast serving in Lagos or Kano states respectively, but CPs from the north and southwest serve in the southeast. ”
He recalls the former IGP Mike Okiro Once attempted to publish Donald Irohamthe CP from IMO State to Lagos, just to reverse the way, redirect him to Kwara State.
PSC’s public relations officials responded to the allegations, ghostthe claim was rejected, emphasizing that CP posts are not static and should not be viewed through narrow shots.
“The appointments and postings of police commissioners are energetic. There may be a time when you prefer a specific region,” said Arni.
He noted that at present, there are two deputy inspector generals in the southeast, more than any other region.
“The release of CPS is not done by qualifications. IGP is the head of operations and knows who in the CP can manage each state effectively. ”
He assured that new posts will be announced soon as some CPs will retire, suggesting that upcoming changes may benefit underrepresented areas.
“No marginalization… IGP knows the capabilities of each CP below and releases them accordingly“ANI Maintenance.