The Police Service Commission has approved the dismissal of six senior officers for various offences ranging from impersonation to forgery, insubordination, negligence and disobedience to lawful order.
The dismissals were part of the decisions taken by the Commission on 55 disciplinary cases brought before it at its 17th Plenary Meeting in Abuja today, Thursday.
The Commission however, ordered the promotion of four Deputy Commissioners of Police to the next rank of Commissioners. They are Posi E. Ajunwa, Akinsanmi Francis Ayo, Kenneth Ebrimson and Akpoebi Agberebi Egbuson.
The Commission also approved the promotion of 17 Assistant Commissioners of Police to Deputy Commissioners and 78 Chief Superintendents of Police to Assistant Commissioners of Police.
The two-day meeting which was presided over by the Chairman of the Commission, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro, a retired Inspector General of Police, also endorsed the promotions of one Superintendent of Police to Chief Superintendent of Police, 12 Deputy Superintendents of Police to Superintendent of Police and one Assistant Superintendent of Police to Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Two Chief Superintendents of Police were appointed Assistant Commissioners of Police on acting capacity, two Superintendents of Police to acting Chief Superintendents of Police, two Deputy Superintendents of Police to acting Superintendent of Police, six Assistant Superintendents of Police to acting Deputy Superintendents of Police and twelve Inspectors to acting Assistant Superintendents of Police.
The Commission also rejected the recommendation for special promotion of one DSP and one Inspector and returned the recommendation for the appointment of a Deputy Commissioner of Police to Commissioner of Police on acting capacity for proper presentation.
It also withheld the special promotion of nine other senior Police Officers for failure of the Police to provide convincing reasons for such promotions.
The promoted Commissioners of Police had earlier on Thursday appeared before the Commission in Plenary where they were subjected to questions on the change agenda of the Nigeria Police Force. [myad]

The first Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, has recounted the many battles he and his team had fought with people at the high echelon of the society who were found to bee neck-deep in corruption.
The anti corruption czar who spoke at the 2016 Annual Lecture of Radio Nigeria in Abuja today, Thursday he had passed through the same road the present EFCC is passing through, with reference to the recent raid on the homes of suspected corrupt judges by security agencies.
He said that he had to arrest his former boss, an Inspector General of Police who was accused of stealing over N10 billion of public funds.
“We have passed the same road before. As at the time we started taking up some state governments, some of the governors felt we were overreaching ourselves. They ganged up to stop us but we persevered. Some of them even went to court but today that has been accepted as normal.
“It was similar with the case of the National Assembly, when we went after the then Senate President. Another example is our taking up of the Inspector General of Police. Here was I and my colleagues, middle level and junior police officers taking on the IG. It was unimaginable! The day that arrest was made it was like the sky would fall. But it came to pass.
“It is similar situation we are having today. However, even if we disagree with the method, we have to appreciate the fact that what is being done is needed.
“The Judiciary should understand this and cooperate fully. We have to have this all-out war against corruption without sparing any sacred cow.
“If there is one area we need national consensus now, it is in supporting this effort to tackle corruption. As most of you know, I belong to the Law profession and I therefore share the concern of some of my colleagues. However, we should all resolve to support the government and those doing the work to get us through this phase.
“Though there is consensus about the need to stop corruption, it is usually in fighting it those disagreements usually arise. With fighting corruption often comes ripples and discomfort as we have seen recently with the probes in the judiciary. It is normal. But we have to withstand the pressure and move on.”
Ribadu insisted that there is no method too much in the effort to tackle corruption even as he appealed to Nigerians to support the effort so as to save the country from collapse.
Ribadu likened corruption to a termite that is capable of destroying the nation’s economic structure, no matter how well it is built, adding: “almost everything that is wrong with our politics and economy can be traced to the menace of corruption.
“This is why we have to fight it. We fight corruption because it is our money;our commonwealth that is being misappropriated and stolen by the people we entrust with the leadership and management of our system.
“We also fight corruption because it increases the cost of doing business in our country. Corruption deprives the poor of prosperity and perpetuates poverty in that when the poor person has to pay for services that should otherwise be free, and he does not have the money; that excludes him from accessing a number of things-education, healthcare or even food.
“We equally fight corruption because it destroys public trust and undermines the rule of law and the state itself.
“Fighting corruption therefore is key to the survival and progress of our economy. When we fight corruption with the seriousness and sincerity it deserves, we safeguard our local economy and our country.” [myad]

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, has asked opposition and those who have been crying that President Muhammadu Buhari is fighting corruption if their intention is that the president should keep quiet and pretend that all is well in the face of the damning relations going on.

“So we should keep quiet and let Nigerians think that everything is ok? That there was no looting. We are in the position we are in because people that came before us preferred to carry our common patrimony and put it in their deposit accounts for their wives and children. What type of country if we decide to play the Ostrich.

“Could we have known for example, that somebody can walk into Central bank, reverse his boot and leave with $2.2 billion raw cash. Could we have known that somebody will sit down and embezzle 40 billion? Look at the type of money they were dispatching.”

Babachir Lawal, who spoke on Channels Television programme, dismissing claims that the ongoing anti-corruption fight is a witch-hunt, saying: “Nigerians most be told what we inherited and majority of Nigerians I can assure you are in favour of what the government is doing. Of course, quite a few that were beneficiaries of this looting will make noise.

“Majority of them that are beneficiaries have access to papers, internet. We are chasing thieves. We are chasing people who took away government money, our money. People who impoverished us.”

The SGF, who also reacted to claims by the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha Buhari that the government of her husband has been hijacked by cabal, said: “I am honoured to be a cabal in this presidency. I have no apologies to make.

“If the President decides that he wants a secretary to the government who is going to work with him, coordinate the activities of his government, who will give him advice, obviously that man should be able to have unfettered access to the President.

“He is supposed to be able to give advice to the president because he is with the president on a daily basis in a manner that others might not have.” [myad]

Presidential nominee for the Chairmanship of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, has said that he is interested in the job, debunking the notion in some quarters that he had turned down the offer.

In a letter, dated 26^th October, 2016, to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, sent through the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang, Prof. Akinwande said that he will honour an invitation for screening by the Nigerian Senate after clearing with his current employer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U S A.

“News reports in Nigeria that I have rejected President Buhari’s nomination to be Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission have been brought to my attention.

“I have the greatest respect for President Buhari. I am fully behind the change he has brought and is bringing to the way Government business is conducted in Nigeria.

“I am deeply honored that Mr. President and his team thought me worthy for this important national assignment and sought me out for it.  I  am  a  tenured  professor  of  electrical  engineering  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.

“As such I am contractually  constrained  to  seek  formally  the  consent  of  the  university  for  a  leave  of  absence  before presenting myself to the Senate for screening and if confirmed take on the assignment.”

Professor Akinwande apologized to the Senate Committee for not showing up for the screening process scheduled for Tuesday, October 25, 2017, noting that it was not out of disrespect for the institution.

The academic said that he would be available for the screening after clearance from the MIT. [myad]