By Mitaire Ikpen, Abuja

Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, has dismissed reports that he is an Islamic fundamentalist as the insinuations of those who don’t know his pedigree.

Speaking in an exclusive interview aired on the African Independent Television, Saturday,  Abubakar described the allegation as part of criticisms that usually trail ascension to leadership positions, pointing out that his guiding principles have always been, and is still, the fear of God and respect for fellow human beings.

“As an individual, I don’t believe you should discriminate against any person. The most important thing for me is that you are a man, you are a friend, you are a brother and we should work together for the benefit of this country. I respect your religion, you respect mine; I respect your principle, I respect your own opinion,”he said.

“If you look at the classification of my staff, that will tell you whether I am what people call me or I am not. I have an orderly who has worked for me for twenty years and he is a Christian. I trust him so much and believe in him so much. My personal assistant, who is a superintendent of police, is not from my state. He is from Ogun.

“My CSO is a Christian from Imo State, my driver is a Christian from Edo State, my house orderly in Abuja is a Christian from Cross River State, and my cook is a Christian. I have a retinue of friends that are Christians and I encourage them to go to church.

“I read the Bible and advise my friends who are good Christians to go to church because I believe as humans created by God we should be able to serve God. So people who are saying these things they don’t know me at all. Don’t forget the fact that you can’t attain leadership positions without criticism.”

Abubakar also noted that the welfare of officers and men of the police force would receive priority attention during his tenure, particularly junior officers who do the nitty gritty of policing.

“They die in the line of duty and senior officers don’t care. This is one reason I flew to Kano just generally to assess the situation and to see the damaging situation in Kano particularly to commiserate with officers and men who have lost their lives, lost their loved ones especially those in the hospitals to show them that I care and I am concerned about their welfare. If these people are my children I will do the same thing to them.”