The chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase, has vowed to sustain the fight against cultism in Nigeria, insisting that no amount of policemen redeployment propaganda will discourage him.
He made this known in a statement that read: “The attention of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase,has been drawn to reports in an online publication on the ongoing reorganization in the Nigeria Police Force, which involved the transfer of certain categories of officers from some states of the federation.
The publication gave the impression that the PSC Chairman was responsible for the transfers that affected officers from his state of Edo. According to the report, “the Inspector General of Police and the PSC Chairman…collected money from Obaseki, the Edo State Governor, to transfer us out of the command,” adding that “the PSC Chairman did the same transfer when he was the Inspector General of Police, and it was stopped by the former PDP Chairman, late Chief Anthony Anenih of blessed memory.”
The publication went as far as alleging that “Arase is the only police IGP who dismissed policemen from his own village, and when the elders called him, he told them that it was a national issue and not a community issue.”
The Commission is, however, happy that the Police Management has sufficiently addressed the issues raised in the publication and that the transfers were routine reorganization in the Force, which involved the transfer of officers who have served for a long period of time in a particular state, which it also noted is “a crucial aspect of maintaining effectiveness and professionalism.”.
The police management also mentioned the states currently undergoing reorganization, which included Edo, Delta, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom. According to the police, these states and some others have been earmarked for this first phase of reorganization to enhance efficiency and accountability, and this exercise is a tradition and sacrosanct.”.
Dr. Arase, however, insists that he has no apology for his known tradition of standing for a police force that is committed to nation-building through the protection of lives and properties, maintenance of the rule of law, and freeing the nation from the menace of cultists, bandits, and other marauding deviants across the country.
Dr. Arase says that he cannot be diminished to operate as a provincial Nigerian who thinks first of himself or his kindred before the national interest.
The allegation that he was the only police IGP who dismissed policemen from his own village, he noted, was ridiculous and infantile, insisting that he will always fight crime and criminality anywhere it raises its head, whether it is in his village or somewhere else.
The PSC Chairman confirmed that he wrote the Governor of his state and copied the Inspector General of Police last December on the deteriorating state of affairs in Edo State, particularly the recent surge in cult-related violence, and demanded urgent and decisive action. He said in the letter that the situation was further worsened by the failure of the judiciary to successfully prosecute these cases, which has allowed these criminals to roam freely, perpetuating violence and instilling fear among the people.
As the Inspector General of Police, Dr. Arase said that he amputated cult dons and charged them to court, although, unfortunately, the powers that be released these outlaws upon his retirement. The records he noted are still with the Edo State Judiciary.
Since the gang war commenced in the state in November last year, he disclosed that close to 30 people have been killed.
Dr. Arase declared that he had zero tolerance for violent crimes when he served the nation as the 18th Inspector General of Police and had successfully dominated the security space with intelligence policing. He pledged to continue to contribute to the restoration of peace and safety in Nigeria.”
