Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo State has defended the confirmation of Suleiman Abba, as substantive Inspector General of Police, saying it was based on merit and attestation to his track record.
The Police Council chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan with Vice President Namadi Sambo and the 36 State Governors as members confirmed the IGP at its meeting on Tuesday.
Interestingly, only Edo governor attended the meeting and the Council of State held earlier as other All Progressives Congress (APC) governors boycotted the two important meetings held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Suleiman Abba was an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 7, prior to his appointment as Acting IGP in August.
Oshiomole had this to say about the confirmation, “We reviewed his CV, his level of competence by those who have worked with him at one time or the other and the council was unanimous that the Acting IGP be confirmed as a substantive IG and the President was accordingly advised and the President accepted the advice and appointed Mallam Abba as the substantive IG of Police.
“We also recognized that Police alone won’t be able to secure lives and properties, they will need the cooperation and collaboration of every Nigerian and when it comes to the issues of security all of us should be seen as activist. At community level, state level, local level and of course at national level.
“We also agreed to do whatever we can to support the police to provide some resources to complement federal effort to see that the police have all that it needs to ensure effective policing of the Nigeria State, so that it can guarantee and ensure protection of lives and properties.
“More so that we are approaching elections and naturally this is the peak of political activities and there are security issues that are associated with politicking and electioneering and we all agree that everything must be done to ensure that these season everybody plays according to the rules and that the police does its job dispassionately so that Nigerians can look forward to the elections without fear.
“On the whole it was a good meeting and people expressed confidence that under the new IGP that the Police will go through radical reform and become a far more competent police force that Nigerians can trust and respect.”
I’m clear that the IGP must see Nigeria for what it is, it is a multi-party democracy, he must act according to the police law not according to the police convenience, these are my personal views. And the fact that he has been confirmed doesn’t mean if he doesn’t play according to the rules I have not forfeit my right to revise my position.
“So for now we were unanimous that based on his pedigree that Mallam Abba has what it takes to reposition the police. That does not mean they will be no pressure, there will be no irritation from time to time”.
