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| NEWS > 07 April 2007 |
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Ruling leads to resignation
During Monday's selectmen's meeting, Deputy Police Chief John Llewellyn detailed the events that led to his brief two-day resignation a little more than a month ago. It was a resignation few knew took place, including members of the board of selectmen.
He told the board that during the spring, an investigation was launched into a possible ethics violation that stemmed from his being promoted from sergeant to deputy chief while serving on the board of selectmen as its chairman. In a disposition agreement released this week, the State Ethics Commission ruled that as a selectman ... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
07 April 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Nigeria: Sack Of Police Is Vot
Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a retired commissioner of police, says in this interview that there is no justification in the present sack of police men and officers. Tsav alleges that the exercise may well be part of plans to rig the elections by deploying military personnel to takeover police duties. He also spoke on other national issues including fears over the elections and more.
What is your comment on the recent sack in the police force?
I think the recent sack in the police force was unnecessary and I strongly feel it has some hidden agenda behind it. This is so because the police have the procedure of monitoring the performances and status of every policeman in the force. You cannot allow people to accumulate serious offences or to degenerate to a level whereby their productivity becomes very low and diminishing, before you will come to announce their sack, that is wrong and improper.
We have the police regulations where any policeman who commits an offence is tried. If you find any policeman to have breached the code of conduct, put him in guardrooms and try him. If he fails to exonerate or explain himself from that case you sanction him. Here is a case where the federal government waited until these things accumulated so that somebody will wake up and pronounce sack.
And the worse thing is that the UN has put the number of policemen in every country to at least one policeman to 400 civilians. That is the ideal number of policemen to police an area. We have not reached the UN target and yet we are reducing the number of police in this country without any justifiable reason. That is very bad. And the argument the police authority advanced was that some recruits come in with fake documents. So what did the recruitment officers do? The police college must screen and interview candidates who must have to pass series of examinations before they are taken. It is only proper that the people who are responsible for recruiting them should be dealt with, and not these people. In some cases candidates did not even go to school but they flaunt bogus certificates. But it is the duty of the authorities to go and verify whether their results were fake or real. So I think the whole exercise as far as I am concerned, is faulty.
So what consequences do you think this development will have on the nation?
You see, the worst thing is that they did this at a time when the general elections are by the corner. This is the time we require a large number of policemen to police the polls. But instead of increasing the number, they are reducing it. This is where I feel strongly that there is a hidden agenda somewhere. I feel the ruling party wants to reduce the number of policemen so as to bring in more military personnel to come and rig elections as they did in the previous elections especially in 2003.
But there were widespread allegations that the policemen, who were more on the field, aided the alleged rigging of 2003 elections?
Yes we received that information too and that is why many people alleged that Tafa Balogun was given monies to rig elections, to tell his men to rig election. We understand that it was these monies that landed him into trouble.
It is true that the police aided rigging, but the police have a little control. They cannot go all out as the military will because they are more careful and conscious. If a policeman shoots and kills somebody, he knows that he will be taken to court but if a military personnel kills somebody, the military will defend him. You may not even know the person who shot and kill somebody. They will name him an unknown soldier.
What is your comment on the extension of Sunday Ehindero's service period?
The election is coming very near and Mr. President must have considered the fact that if he replaces Sunday Ehindero with another IGP, may be the next government will come in will also need a new IGP, in which case the man will spend only a few months and be thrown out, and there will be no continuity. I am not speaking on his behalf but I think that was why he extended the service period of Sunday Ehindero. This is my own interpretation, because if you have just a short time to go and you appoint a new person, he will have to start learning the job again. As soon as you are appointed IGP, you go on a tour of inspection to familiarize yourself with all the commands, zones and the rest of them. You will have to tell the people your policies and what they should expect from you too, but now by the time the new I.G.P goes around and comes back the time is off.
What is you own assessment of the Nigeria police under Sunday Ehindero?
You see the situation in the police force is going down everyday, but I think Ehindero has done his best compared with Tafa Balogun.
Even when insecurity is said to be on the rise?
You cannot expect Ehindero to be in the office as IG and return to the field to curb crime. The state commissioners of police, the DPOs, the area commanders are the people to be blamed not the IGP, because he sits in his office and gives out his policies, it is then the responsibility of the state commissioners, DPOs, area commanders to implement his polices. Where for instance the IGP in Abuja gives instruction to commissioner of police in Benue State to do something about the recent political killing in Buruku, Benue state and the commissioner fails as a result of which violence escalates, would you fault Ehindero? I think the IG has been doing his best.
Few days to the general elections violence is increasing everywhere. Can you foretell what the elections will look like?
Tsav: I foresee violence at a mass scale and I have written severally alerting the police several years ago that arms are being imported. People who should not carry arms are being allowed to carry arms, the state governors are employing thugs, arming and training them and empowering them to do what they want and nothing is happening. All my complaints to the authorities failed on deaf ears. There was a case, for instance where in 2003 about five people where killed in Tarka local government area of Benue state. We reported the matter to police and up till now nothing has happened.
The president has already declared that the 2007 election is a do-or-die affair and everybody wants to come in by all means because people in power have stolen and have acquired wealth, built houses here and there, bought houses overseas. The EFCC told us that 24 governors were investigated and found to have corruptly enriched themselves and they are ready to deal with them but they did nothing. Now some of these governors are still contesting for another term or other positions since nothing has happened to them. As a result, everybody wants to come in and partake in the stealing so that they too will have properties scattered all over.
Obasanjo's statement on do-or-die is subject to different interpretations. What is your own understanding?
He means that either the PDP wins or they will die or somebody will die. That is what he meant, and that is exactly what they are doing. If you look at the manner the PDP is campaigning, you will conclude that they only go out for fashion parade, showing off. It is like they are telling the rest of us that look, we are the same people that have not performed, but there is nothing you Nigerians can do, we are coming back. Obasanjo promised that within six months in office, he will overhaul the energy sector, today we are almost in the eighth year and if our electricity supply was not better than candlelight, today we are worst off. Our people are dying of water disease in Benue State. We have bad roads, I am grateful to God we don't need roads in the sky for airplanes to fly, otherwise airspace in Nigeria too would have been wrought with pot holes.
What do you have expect him to say when he was led by the governor to commission several projects?
Commissioning the projects after six years in office? If you give this type of projects to somebody who has not been to school, within six years he would complete them. Okay, Mr. President commissioned some projects, but especially those in the industrial layout, the fertilizer blending plant for instance was almost completed when the last military governor handed over to Akume. Also, the plastic factory he commissioned stopped working just as he departed the state. Plastic products were brought in from Lagos to show the president that this factory is functioning. And if the president wants to confirm what I am saying, he should send somebody to come and see whether those things are working, they are not working.
Are you saying there was no security report for him to act on?
Security reports are written by human beings and they can manipulate them.
INEC has defied court orders to disqualify some candidates including Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the AC, asking them to wait and go to election tribunal. What do you think this portends?
For what use? Would they be going to the tribunal if they did not contest elections? Does it mean INEC will conduct fresh election if you go to the tribunal and win?
The fact is that Obasanjo does not want Atiku to contest because he has the feeling that if Atiku contests, he will win and will send him back to jail and that is why he has done what he has done. And these people all go to either the churches or mosque and they do not know God. They don't believe in the law of sincerity and honesty. Atiku has gone to court several times, he has won, and the court has said Atiku should stand for election. But INEC and Obasanjo have continued to say Atiku will not stand but they are not God, the God who created us all knows what he has for Atiku.
Are you therefore saying that Prof. Maurice Iwu may not be different from Dr. Abel Guobadia?
They are all the same.
But Iwu has been claiming that he will do his best to protect his integrity.
He is doing his best? He is talking that to deceive us. If he wants to protect his integrity, many things have happened, but why can't he resign in protest?
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