TENURE OF IGPs: As good as they come; but…
BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI & MITAIRE IKPEN
Abuja – The Late Mr. Louis Orok Edet was appointed the first indigenous Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in 1964. Since then fifteen other Nigerians have occupied the exalted office.
In recent times, the transition from one IGP has always been stormy, owing to debilitating factors ranging from allegations of religious and political bias, favouritism, perceived human rights abuses, financial misappropriation; a weak approach to tackling crime and insecurity, high handedness, seeming disloyalty to the government of the day, and so on.
In the chronology of IGPs, a good number of the police chiefs experienced a forced exit from the Force, either as a result of corruption, major security challenges, allegations of brutality and insensitivity to internal operations as well as several other perceived lapses which dulled even their successes and service records.
Depending on the circumstances that gave rise to their appointments, the IGPs strove to better the records of their predecessors. But not many were able to make a significant difference in comparison with the circumstances that brought them on board. Quite a number of them were bereft of clues to tackle the security challenges that prevailed during their tenures.
Overtime in Nigeria, IGPs have danced to the dictates of the government that appointed them as well as dominant groups in the society. While some could not keep tabs on their primary duty of law enforcement not to mention tackling the major security albatross that characterised their tenures, others were subservient to the government of the day and easily swayed to the inclinations of the rich and powerful in the society.
Hereunder is a rundown of the 16 IGPs since independence and the high and low points of their tenures.
Louis Edet (1964-1966)
Born in Calabar in 1914, Edet made history as the first indigenous Inspector General of Police.
Kam Salem (1966-1975)
Salem held sway as the nation’s police chief during the military administration of Gen. Yakubu Gowon that fought the Biafran warlords to keep Nigeria one.
Muhammed Dikko Yusuf (1975-1979)
Now popularly as Alhaji M.D. Yusuf, Dikko Yusuf held the post of IGP from 1975-1979 during the military eras of General Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo. He had a long stride in public service as was also once chairman of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) in 1994, Chairman of apex northern group, Arewa Consultative Forum in 2000 and also presidential hopeful in 2003.
Adamu Suleiman (1979-1981)
Adamu Suleiman was IGP during era of Nigeria’s first civilian president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari.
Sunday Adewuyi (1981-1983)
The gentleman from Oyo State struggled with a politicised police force during tenure. The force under Sunday Adewuyi was seen as the stooge of the then ruling party, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Etim Nyang (1985-1986)
The Cross-River born Nyang held sway as police chief during the junta days of Nigeria’s “Maradona” and self-styled military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. During his tenure, crime wave billowed mercilessly against the nation and incidents of high profile armed robbery were the order of the day, necessitating the question from Babangida, “My friend, where is Anini”, referring to the dreaded armed robber that ruled the Benin/Asaba axis.
Muhammadu Gambo-Jimeta (1986-1990)
His major achievement was the arrest of Anini and his gang.
Before his appointment as IGP, Gambo had made a mark for himself as a super cop while he served as Police Commissioner in Lagos State in the late 1970s.
Former IGs; Sunday Adewusi, Etim Inyang, Mohammed Gambo and Tafa Balogun
Aliyu Attah (1990-1993)
Attah’s tenure was colourless as he served under the shadows of the achievements of Gambo. This was made worse because Gambo remained a key figure on the national security firmament.
Ibrahim Coomassie (1993-1999)
Coomasie took over as IGP from Aliyu Attah in 1993. He was educated at the Detective Training College, Wakefield, United Kingdom and also in Washington DC, USA. His era was smacked by various state-sponsored detentions including that of president-elect, Chief M.K.O Abiola who was arrested by the police without a warrant.
Musiliu Smith (1999-2002)
Smith’s appointment as IGP was one of the first appointments that followed the swearing-in of former President Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. Born on 17th April 1946, Smith joined the Force in 1972 as an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Enugu Division, and rose through the ranks to become an Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of zonal headquarters, Kano. He bagged a Masters degree in Strategic Studies from the University of Ibadan in 1997. He was co-opted into Gen. Abdusalami’s Provisional Ruling Council in 1998.
A fine officer from Lagos State, his tenure went down in history as the only one that witnessed the first revolt by the rank and file of the force in the form of a strike action which eventually led to his removal from office by Obasanjo who asked him to proceed on compulsory retirement.
Mustafa Adebayo Balogun (2002-2005)
Popularly called Tafa Balogun, he succeeded Smith on March 6, 2002 as the 11th Inspector General of Police with a mandate to instil discipline within the rank and file of the Force following a successful industrial action under Smith. Born on August 8, 1947 in Ila-Orogun, Osun State, Tafa got enlisted into the force in May 1973. He was variously commissioner of police in Edo, Delta, Rivers and Abia States and also headed the A.I.G Zone 1, Kano as Assistant Inspector General.
He presided over the April 2003 general elections which were marred by cases of electoral fraud and reports of police abuses. Incidents of press gagging and brutality against journalists were rife under Tafa. It was to his credit though that the police unravelled the dreaded Okija shrine in Anambra State where politicians go on oath to pledge allegiance to political godfathers at the expense of utilising state resources for public good.
He however earned the unpalatable reputation of being the first police helmsman to be arrested, arraigned and incarcerated over large-scale corruption charges ranging from theft to illegal acquisition of confiscated properties seized from politicians by the OBJ-initiated Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This led to his forced resignation in January 2005.
Sunday Ehindero (2005-2007)
Ondo-born Ehindero had a herculean task to launder the battered image of the police force following the ouster of Tafa Balogun, for sharp practices. He bagged Science and Law degrees from the University of Ibadan and the Nigerian Law School.
In February 2006, he pivoted a bill to the National Assembly to remove gender bias that prevailed in the Force of his day. He accused Tafa of recruiting “dirty cops” into the Force Ostensibly acting on orders from above, it was Ehindero that recommended the controversial and unpopular promotion of former EFCC chair, Nuhu Ribadu from commissioner of police to Assistant Inspector General of Police. He duly retired from the Force in 2007, but faced several probes thereafter regarding a N21 million Naira fraud, diversion of N2.5 billion of police cooperative money, and N300 million police funds.
Mike Mbama Okiro (2007-2009)
The Imo-born police chief took over from Ehindero in 2009 with a record of being the first Nigerian of Igbo stock to become the nation’s top cop. He was an appointee of President Yar’Adua whose government came on board on May 29, 2007 in the first civilian to civilian transition. He joined the police force on August 1, 1977 as an ASP and at a point in his career, received double promotion from commissioner of police to Deputy Inspector General of Police. Okiro’s tenure was marked by moves to undo perceived discrepancies by his predecessors in the force.
Shortly after his appointment, Okiro reinstated several officers who were forced into early retirement. . He headed the inter-agency panel of 5 to investigate the $190m Halliburton Scam, indicting KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, of bribing Nigerian government officials to curry construction contracts from the Liquified Natural gas Limited. When he retired honourably from the force in July 2009 at age 60, Okiro got a rare commendation from President Yar’Adua on his achievements while in office.
Ogbonnaya Okechukwu Onovo
Enugu-born Ogbonnaya Onovo succeeded Okiro in July 2007. Before Okiro’s appointment, he had a feel of the exalted position in acting capacity. Between 1998 and 2000 he was at the helm of affairs at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as chairman/CEO.
He was promoted to Deputy Inspector General on 14 March 2002, and served three Inspector Generals (Tafa Balogun, Sunday Ehindero and Mike Okiro) in that role. Onovo’s era was smeared by his own compatriots from the east who suddenly took to the rather negative economic boom of high profile kidnappings for huge ransoms. His situation was so helpless that the police, during his tenure, would even help families of victims to negotiate ransom payments to secure release from their abductors. His inability to checkmate the wave of kidnappings and killings led to his inglorious exit from the force before attaining his retirement age.
Hafiz Ringim
Ringim joined the force as a Cadet Inspector on March 1, 1977. He was appointed on September 10, 2010, a beneficiary of expedient reorganisation by President Jonathan, then in acting capacity, following unpopular roles by certain individuals in the stalemate that trailed the illness of late President Yar’Adua. His less than average tenure witnessed perhaps the most daring affront on the police with the bombing of a section of the Force Headquarters by the dare-devil Boko Haram Islamic sect. This came after a boast by Ringim that he will neutralise the sect.
Ringim withdrew into his shell as he could not quell or demystify the Boko Haram group which took credit for the spate of bombings that characterised his tenure. The most dastardly ones were perhaps the 2011 Christmas Day bombing at the St. Theresa Catholic Church, Maddala, near Abuja, which claimed over forty lives and the recent serial explosions in Kano which claimed no less than 185 lives. While there was persistent public outcry for his sack or resignation, Ringim however got a soft landing on January 25, 2012 from President Jonathan, who approved his terminal leave prior to his imminent retirement in March this year.
Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar (current IGP)
The present IGP got on the saddle in acting capacity on January 25, 2012, following Ringim’s forced retirement. Before now, he was in charge of Zone 12 Bauchi believed to be one of the strongholds of the Boko Haram sect. He was also once commissioner of police in Lagos. Allegations that he has traces of religious fanatic trailed his appointment by President Jonathan last Wednesday. He has however promised to tackle criminality head-on irrespective of whatever name it bears including Boko Haram.
“I am not a newcomer to this job. I cannot run away from the fact that I know some of the challenges but I do know that we have a very challenging and uphill task,” he told journalist last Thursday. “This administration will be different from any other administration because every officer and men of the Nigeria Police will belong to the same page. This administration will not tolerate any, and I mean any acts of indiscipline and acts of corruption,” he said.
