I was amazed during the week when the new Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris took on his predecessor in office, Solomon Arase, accusing him of taking away 24 vehicles belonging to the police, after his retirement. He did not stop at that, he equally accused the seven deputies that retired with Arase of making away with about seven or eight cars, each.
“When I took over, there was no vehicle, even the vehicle I would use. I discovered the last IG went away with 24 vehicles; the DIGs, some of them eight, some of them seven. The IG’s vehicles included two BMW 7 series, one armoured; and he left me with an old car”.
Apart from the fact that what he did was not ‘de rigueur’- accusing your former boss publicly in an organisation that prides itself on strict adherence to rigid, hierarchical structure, the manner the IGP went about raising the allegation gives the impression that he has an axe to grind with his former boss. As much as I am not in support of appropriating public property which those vehicles are, Idris’ accusation could have been handled in a more mature manner without creating unnecessary bad blood. Yes, the new IGP has been described as a straight arrow and this would possibly account for his being picked by the president above his superiors who had to retire since their junior had been elevated. But his action should not jeopardize the esprit de corps, that is the hallmark of both military and paramilitary organisations that the police is.
According to him, he had written to Arase and the other deputies to return the cars, he however did not wait for a response before going public.
Unfortunately, he got what he never bargained for in Arase who responded scathingly and who accused him of engaging in media propaganda.
“I suspect there must be a disconnect somewhere because every information needed by my successor are provided in my hand-over notes. I’m also not aware that any letter was written to me because if there was any dropped in my house, someone would have alerted me. It’s unfortunate that this matter is being made a media issue because my successor has my telephone number and could have called me for any clarification or even sent me a text message rather than addressing the media on an issue well documented in my hand-over notes…
“What am I going to do with 24 cars? Do I want to open a car shop? This is a malicious accusation. There are ways of verifying issues rather than engaging in media propaganda.”
Indeed, Arase’s response hits the nail on the head. There are ways this could have been handled without the public accusation. He could have called and if the relationship between the two of them preclude that, a message could have been sent to Arase through associates, if indeed, there’s no malice as alleged by Arase. That is even on a private level.  Since he had written to his former boss, he could have waited for a response before going public. His action indicates lack of tact and impatience which are not complementary traits for someone holding such a high office. If he had been a bit patient, he would have got a more satisfactory explanation instead of the response that has put eggs on his face.
The IGP also said the police management team would look at the discrepancies and complaints arising from the promotions in the police as some personnel complained that their juniors were promoted over them. When I heard this, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. The IGP is also a recipient of that lopsided promotion. As a former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), he was promoted way above his bosses. Because of the promotion, some AIGs and all the DIGs had to be retired. Some of these people, who still had several years of service to offer were compulsorily retired without a consideration of all that had been expended to train them. So where would he start correcting the anomalies? With himself?
More recently, the police promoted some officers to the vacant AIG and DIG’s positions, more than half of those promoted came from the northern part of the country. Would the IGP look into this  as he promised? If he does, he would have written his name in ‘gold’ within a short time of his appointment.
Yes, he has been described as a competent, fair and professional officer, that toga would only sit well on him when he corrects some of these anomalies and face the job of policing squarely, tackling the kidnapping challenges, pipeline vandalism that has laid the country prostrate.

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