Monday, 6 May 2013
Open Letter: Grave Violation Of The Federal Character Principle
Ref:
Intersociety/S/02/05/013/F/C/ABJ/FGN
From: the Secretariat
of:
International Society
for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
41, Miss Elems
Street, Fegge, Onitsha, Anambra, Nigeria
To:
Prof. Shuaibu
AbdulRaheem Oba
Executive Chairman,
Federal Character Commission
Plot 64, 1st
Avenue, Off Shehu Shagari Way
Central Business
District, Abuja, Nigeria
Sir,
Grave Violation Of
The Federal Character Principle By The Leadership Of The Nigeria Police Force:
A Call For Your Commission’s Immediate Intervention
Above subject matter refers.
(Onitsha Nigeria, 6th day of May, 2013)-In line with
powers vested on your Commission by the Federal Character Commission Act of
1996 and Section 153 as well as Supplementary Section 7, Part 1 of Third
Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, your Commission’s attention is drawn to the
above named subject. For full details and necessary action, please find
attached a copy of our letter to the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, through Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, Governor of Anambra State and Chairman,
Southeast Governors’ Forum. The letter is dated 6th day of May, 2013
and referenced: Intersociety/S/01/05/013/S/E/Presidency/ABJ/FGN.
Our Request: We pray your Commission to carry out full
investigation into the 3rd day of April, 2013 promotion of 130
senior police officers by the immediate past leadership of the Nigeria Police
Service Commission, which said it promoted
based on IGP’s recommendation. Your Commission’s investigation will show
whether the NPF and the former PSC leadership acted in conformity with the
Federal Character Principle, in conformity with Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended as well as with
the six geopolitical zonal structures.
Our findings in the intersociety
clearly show that the methods of recommendation for promotion, promotion and
posting of senior police officers in the present day NPF are gravely lopsided
and carefully designed to cripple and destroy the Southeast zone in the
Nigeria’s social scheme of things. We demand that your Commission’s
investigation, which should be thorough and conclusive, be extended to the
Federal Ministry of Interior and the Immigration Service, where strong
accusations of discriminatory practices against personnel of the Southeast
extraction working in them are becoming thicker day by day.
We also demand that your
Commission’s investigation should be extended to the area of serving AIGs in
the NPF so as to ascertain why out of between 22 and 24 serving police AIGs in
Nigeria, none is from the Southeast geopolitical zone. The number and
geopolitical identities of all serving CPs
in the NPF should also be thoroughly investigated to ensure that each
geopolitical zone is equitably represented and not short-changed. At the end of
your Commission’s investigation, the said lopsidedness should be frontally
reversed and proactively prohibited at all times in all the federal ministries
and agencies in Nigeria.
Yours Faithfully,
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law,
Nigeria
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chairman of the Board
Mobile Phone Nos.:08033601078, 08180103912
Website: intersociety-ng.org
Open Letter: Hausanisation And Islamization Policy In The Nigeria Police Force
Ref:
Intersociety/S/01/05/013/S/E/Presidency/ABJ/FGN
From: the Secretariat
of:
International Society
for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
41, Miss Elems
Street, Fegge, Onitsha, Anambra State
Southeast, Nigeria
To:
Dr. Goodluck E.
Jonathan, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Commander-in-Chief,
Nigerian Armed Force & Chairman, Nigeria Police Council
Thro
The Chairman,
Nigeria’s Southeast Governors’ Forum
Office of the
Governor of Anambra State, Government House, Awka
Anambra State,
Southeast, Nigeria
Your Excellencies,
Hausanisation
& Islamisation Policy In The Nigeria Police Force: Our Case Against The
Police Leadership Under IGP M.D. Abubakar
(Onitsha
Nigeria, 6th day of May, 2013)-The composition of the Government
of the Federation or any of its agencies and conduct of its affairs shall be
carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and
the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty,
thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few
States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in
any of its agencies.
Your Excellencies, it is totally correct to say
that the foregoing firm constitutional directive provided in Section 14(3) of the Constitution of
Nigeria, 1999 as amended, is observed in total breach by the present leadership
of the Nigeria Police Force, headed by IGP
Mohammed Dikko Abubakar as it relates to recommendation for promotion, promotion and posting of senior police officers, especially those from the ranks of
Commissioners of Police and Assistant Inspectors General of Police. Though,
the Nigeria Police Service Commission promotes,
but it says the IGP recommends those to
be promoted. This is in clear violation of the PSC Establishment Act of
2001 and Supplementary Section 29 of Part 1 of Third Schedule to the 1999
Constitution as amended.
As Your Excellencies may
know, unity in diversity is the main
and last trademark of every heterogeneous society such as ours. It was a
driving force behind the introduction of federalism
into the country’s political and legal systems in 1954. The Nigeria’s
variant of the Fundamental Human Rights
doctrine, which was recommended in 1957/8 for enshrinement into the
Independence Constitution of 1960, was solely predicated on unity in diversity. It was the fears of the Nigerian minorities of
Mid-West and Middle-Belt that
made its enshrinement into the country’s constitutions till date possible.
Today, every Tom, Dick and Harry in the country is a beneficiary of this famous
doctrine, originally intended to allay
the fears of the minorities. This is also expressly responsible for Your Excellency, President Goodluck E.
Jonathan’s presidential emergence, having come Ijaw small ethnic group. The
unanimous adoption of six geopolitical
zonal structures for Nigeria’s geopolitical system at the 1994
constitutional conference is also to ensure unity in diversity.
Therefore, the social importance of unity in diversity in every heterogeneous society like ours cannot
be quantitatively and qualitatively measured. The trademark of unity in diversity is effective
constitutional safeguards to ward off its violators at all times. In Nigeria,
despite the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 14(3) quoted above, the Government of the Federation and
its agencies and agents have continued to observe these sacred constitutional
provisions in gross breach. In 2012, we alerted Your Excellencies over discriminatory policies in some Federal
Government ministries and agencies especially in the Nigeria Police Force as
they concerned and still concern recommendation for promotion, promotion and
posting of senior police officers. By the combined provisions of Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution
and the principle of six geopolitical
zonal structures, the appointment of persons into various agencies of the
Federal Government including the Nigeria Police Force as well as promotion and
posting of the latter’s senior officers should strictly be based on federal character representation and six geopolitical zonal structures.
This simply means
that on no accounts should the command structure of the Nigeria Police Force be
dominated by one ethnic group or religion. It further means that if there are
24 police AIGs in the Force, each
geopolitical zone must get at least four; if there are 90 police CPs, each zone is automatically entitled to fifteen. This
should be replicated in other senior or command positions and postings in the
Force. It should also be applied in
field operations in the Force. For instance, out of the 12 police zonal commands and 37 State
commands in the country, each zone should respectively get at least two
zonal AIGs and six States CPs. But on the contrary, the
reverse is the case. Deliberate Hausanisation
and Islamisation policy has
become a routine in the present day Nigeria Police Force under the leadership
of Mr. Mohammed Diko Abubakar. As the Plateau State Commissioner of Police
years back in 2001 or there about, Mr. M.D. Abubakar was gravely accused by
Christian community, media, rights groups and government adhoc facts finders as
an ethnic and religious zealot, a
stigma that nearly robbed him of his present IGPship, which is still a big minus on his personage till date.
Our Grouse:
Non-promotion of Igbo-Southeast Police Personnel & Stagnation of
their Ranks: Senior police officers of the Southeast extraction are heavily
discriminated against in the areas of statutory promotions and postings. There
is also an age-long ranking stagnation
policy against them being promoted by the top headship of the Nigeria
Police Force. The top field and administrative formations of the Force in
Nigeria, out of its 6,651 field formations in the country are: IGPship manned
by the overall head of the Force, six DIGs of administration, works, investigation, training, planning & research
and information & computer technology; twelve zonal commands manned by
twelve AIGs, thirty-seven States and FCT Commands manned by 37 States
Commissioners of Police as well as hundreds of State criminal investigation departments
and area commands manned by Assistant Commissioners of Police. There are also
other important field and administrative formations in the Force manned by
AIGs, CPs and DCPs. Some of them are Police Staff College, Jos, Police Academy,
Kano, Police Medical, Police Veterinary, Air-wing, Border Patrols, Force
Secretary, Intelligence and Marines & Airport Command, all manned by AIGs.
Others like Police Detective Colleges, Police Colleges, Police Admin, Police
Legal, Port Authority, MOPOL, SARS, CTU, Info Tech/Admin, Police Animal, etc,
are manned by Commissioners of Police.
Surprisingly and shocking too, senior police officers of the Igbo-Southeast
extraction are not equitably represented in all these key police formations in
the country. For instance, in the number of serving police commissioners in
Nigeria, the Southeast zone is the least represented geopolitically. Other than
States Police Commands where about six of them are serving with their statutory
terminal dates nearing, their absence in other key police formations in the
country is acutely noticed. For instance, among the 12 Police Zonal Commands in
the country, manned by AIGs, none of them is from the Igbo-Southeast
extraction. As a matter of fact, there is no Igbo-Southeast serving AIG, out of
between 22 and 24 serving AIGs (assistant inspectors general of police) in the
Nigeria Police Force presently. The only serving AIG from the zone who was
promoted in 2012 on the heels of similar outcries from the zone over
non-promotion and exclusion of Igbo-Southeast senior police officers, quietly
retired in April 2013. His name is Mr. Alex Emeka Okeke-a celebrated police
pharmacist.
The promotion of Igbo-Southeast
senior police officers to the ranks of ACPs, DCPs, CPs and AIGs is also
deliberately stunted and carried out months away from their statutory
retirement dates. There are incontrovertible pieces of evidence showing that
the Igbo-Southeast police officers are among the best in both police colleges
and police staff colleges in Nigeria, yet their promotions and postings are
habitually stunted by the promoting and posting authorities of the NPF. There
are still many Igbo-Southeast police officers who entered the Force in early
80s with higher education qualifications, who also emerged all round cadets in police colleges, yet, they are still in the
ranks of SPs, CSPs, ACPs and DCPs, whereas
their counterparts from five other geopolitical zones particularly the
Northwest, Northeast, North-central and Southwest, have risen to the ranks of CPs, AIGs and DIGs. The present IGP, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, from
Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria, joined the NPF as a cadet inspector on 1st
day of August, 1979.
The Last Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back: On 3rd day
of May, 2013, Nigerians, particularly those of the Southeast extraction
received with shock and disbelief the news of decoration by the Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, of nine newly promoted
Commissioners of Police at Force Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. Our swift
checks revealed that they were part of the 13 deputy commissioners of police promoted
to police commissioners on 3rd day of April by the immediate past
leadership of the Nigeria Police Service Commission, which said it acted based
on the recommendation of the
Inspector General of Police, Mr. M.D. Abubakar. The former PSC leadership had
in the exercise promoted 13 DCPs to CPs, 22 ACPs to DCPs, 9 CSPs to ACPs, 16
DSPs to SPs, 52 ASPs to DSPs and 7 Inspectors to ASPs. Also,
one serving Commissioner of Police, Ali
Ahmadu, was made an AIG with a strange directive that his promotion would
take effect from 31st day of July, 2013, the same day he will retire
from the Nigeria Police Force. The identities and geopolitical zones of the
newly promoted officers were shrouded in secrecy by the former PSC leadership
as well as the top leadership of the Force with the exception of the nine newly
decorated CPs. The full details of
the promotion were neither put on the PSC and NPF websites nor given to the
media.
Our further in-depth checks showed
that out of the nine newly promoted and decorated police commissioners, whose
identities were made public by the IGP, none of them is from the Igbo-Southeast
Nigeria and out of the 13 new CPs promoted, none is from the Southeast, whereas
eight out of the nine newly decorated ones are northern Muslims. Seven of them are core
Hausa-Fulani Muslims; one is a northern Yoruba Muslim, while one is a Southwest
Christian. Their names are: Commissioners of Police Kudu Abubakar Nima,
Umar U. Shehu, Usman Yakubu, Saidu Madawaki, Usman Isah Baba, Abdulmajid Ali,
Abubakar Adamu Mohammed, Abdul Salami and Cornelius Kayode Aderanti. For us
in the Intersociety, this is an
impeachable violation of Section 14(3) of
the 1999 Constitution.
Further, in the eighteen names
available to us, out of between 22 and 24 serving AIGs in the Nigeria Police
Force, none of them comes from the Southeast geopolitical zone. They are: Police AIGs Saliu Argungu Hashimu, Mamman
Ibrahim Tsafe, Suleiman A. Abba, Ali Ahmadu, Ibrahim Abdu, Tambari Mohammed, Mohammed
Abubakar, Aliyu Musa and Balla Hassan (they are all Hausa-Fulani Muslims). Nine
other non-Igbo-Southeast AIGs still serving are: Christopher Dega, Julius Ishola, Solomon Arase, Dan’azumi Job Doma,
Solomon Olusegun, Michael Zuokumor, Orubebe Gandhi Ebikeme, Jonathan Johnson
and Philemon Leha. None of the 4 or 6 remaining AIGs, whose names are not
contained here, is from the Igbo-Southeast Nigeria. In the list above, all the
geopolitical zones of Northwest, Northeast, North-central, Southwest and South-south
are represented in the all-important AIGship
except the Southeast zone.
Few serving Igbo-Southeast States CPs in Nigeria with nearing statutory
terminal dates are CPs Ikechukwu Aduba-Delta State, Godfrey Okeke-Adamawa State, Kingsley
Omire-Bayelsa State, Hilary Opara-Kogi State, Ikemefula Okoye-Ogun and Patrick
Egbuniwe-Yobe State. Four other known non-State Command CPs from the Igbo-Southeast, who are
still serving are CPs Mrs. Chintua Amajor Onu-CP Intelligence, Force
Headquarters, Isaac Eke-CP Admin B, Force Headquarters, Benjamin Onwuka-Deputy
Commandant, Police College, Jos and
Felix Uyanna-Commandant, Police College, Oji River, Enugu State.
It is possible that some of these CPs
that bear Igbo names are of the South-south Igbo origin. The only cadre of the
NPF top command that is equitably represented in the six geopolitical zonal
structures is the six NPF’s top management levels manned by Deputy Inspectors General of Police. While
DIGs Atiku Y. Kafur and Suleiman D. Fakai of Planning &
Research and Administration departments, respectively, represent Northwest and
Northeast geopolitical zones; DIGs
Marvel Akpoyibo and Abdulrahman
Akano of Training and Information & Computer Technology departments,
respectively, represent South-south and Southwest zones. DIGs Peter Yisa Gana and Emmanuel
Onyekachi Udoji of Investigation and Works departments, respectively,
represent North-central and Southeast zones.
Marginalization
of the Igbo-Southeast in Other Federal Ministries & Agencies: The
attentions of Your Excellencies are
drawn to efforts by some key federal ministries and agencies controlled by
other geopolitical zones to oust and destroy the Igbo-Southeast personnel
working in such ministries and agencies. It is clear to every Tom, Dick and Harry
that the Northwest, Northeast, North-central and Southwest zones are not comfortable
over the headship of the Nigerian Army by an Igbo-Southeast person. Phantom
moves are steadily being made to oust the zone from the position. Just months
ago, the Controller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Mrs. Rose
Uzoma, who hailed from the Southeast zone, was unceremoniously ousted by the
Federal Government under Your Excellency,
President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, over phantom allegations including
recruitment
of Igbo persons into the Service outside the Federal Character principle.
Recently, the concerned Igbo-Southeast personnel working in the Service cried
foul over the discriminatory practices being initiated and sustained against
them in the Service and the Federal Ministry of Interior. They complained of non-appointment into key positions,
barefaced discrimination, sideling and allocation
of irrelevant duties to them, unnecessary and deliberate delays in appointing
another Southeast person as the acting or substantive Controller General of the
Immigration Service, among others. They specifically pointed out that the
Igbo-Southeast are not represented in the Federal Ministry of Interior’s boards
of Prisons, Immigration, Security & Civil Defense Corps, Customs and
Police. Whereas other geopolitical zones are represented in the Ministry’s Joint Intelligence Board, it is only
the Southeast zone that is not represented. They cited a stark example of the
lopsided composition of the Ministry of Interior, where the Minister and
Permanent Secretary are from the north and chairman and secretary of the Immigration
Board are from the same north. Same thing applies to Prisons and Civil Defense
Corps, etc.
Conclusion:
Our writing Your Excellencies is to
draw Your Excellencies’ attentions to issues under reference and
demand for permanent end to same as well as strict adherence to Section 14(3) and six geopolitical zonal principle in matters of distribution of
federal appointments, recruitments, promotions and postings of members of the
armed forces including the Nigeria Police Force. The recent promotions in the
NPF being complained of should be thoroughly and expeditiously investigated
with a view to addressing the gross lopsidedness and sanctioning those found
flouting the said Section 14(3). Your
Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan, should expeditiously issue a
presidential proclamation directing all heads of the armed forces including the
NPF and the PSC to henceforth base their recruitments, promotions and postings
on Section 14(3) and six geopolitical zonal structures. Your Excellency, as the chairman of
the Nigeria Police Council and sole appointing authority of members of the PSC
board should ensure that the next PSC board is composed of astute and
impeccable personalities. The grave mistake of appointing a retired police
officer as the chairman of the PSC must be avoided. The intendment behind the
creation of the PSC is not to militarize
the NPF but to civilianize it and provide effective checks and balances on
its headship at all times. Also, promoting
police officers on the recommendation
of the IGP is illegal and unconstitutional. The PSC is expressly
empowered both constitutionally and legally to appoint (promote), dismiss and
discipline any member of the NPF other than the IGP without
recourse to the IGP’s so called recommendation.
The IGP is the operational head of the Force and nothing more than that.
We urge Your Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, as the chairman of the Southeast
Governors’ Forum, to be more proactive, protective and outspoken whenever the
lives, liberties and interests of the people of Igbo-Southeast such as the foregoing
are under threats. The slaughtering of thousands of the Southeast people on
yearly basis by lawful and unlawful armed malicious elements in the country is
partly because of the lopsidedness being complained of and quietness of the graveyard on the part of the zone’s top public
office holders. The leaders of the zone under Your Excellency’s leadership must no longer sound and behave like a
conquered people, which they are
not. Nigeria, as Your Excellency is aware, belongs to all of us. Our people must be
maximally protected in any part of the country at all times. The Jonathan’s
Presidency must no longer be made to look like Jonathan rules and Igbo people
get perished political game.
Yours
Faithfully,
For: International Society for Civil Liberties
& the Rule of Law, Nigeria
Emeka
Umeagbalasi, Chairman of the Board
Mobile
Phone Nos.: 08033601078, 08180103912
Website:
intersociety-ng.org
CC:
The
Chairman, Federal Character Commission, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
Deputy
President of Senate, National Assembly of Nigeria, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
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