Police Redeployment: Ohanaeze Ndigbo Accuses Buhari of Marginalisation
Following the recent massive shake-up and redeployment of police officers by the Police Service Commission (PSC), the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of marginalisation of Igbos.
In a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday and signed by the President General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, the group said the posting of commissioners of police to states throughout the country indicates obvious lopsidedness in both the number of Ndigbo affected and their states of posting.
He said: “The whole of the seven Igbo-speaking states in the country have only two commissioners of police while some single states have two or more and some geopolitical zones more than six or seven.
“President Buhari came on campaign to Anambra State and insulted Ndigbo by saying that his postings were based on merit and that is why the South-east zone is completely absent in the security apparatchiks of the country.”
He said what this signifies was that “no Igbo man or woman is intelligent or brilliant enough or has his confidence to head any of the security apparatus of Nigeria, and to buttress his point, only two Igbo officers are ‘meritorious’ to be appointed commissioners of police in charge of states.”
He said the only two officers were posted to the most hazardous war-torn areas of the north - Zamfara and Borno States.
He noted that Ndigbo has always formed the majority of soldiers posted to war zones and that men from the region have paid their dues, including producing a worthy general officer commanding troops.
Nwodo explained that while the Nigerian/Biafra war ended almost 50 years ago, Buhari’s administration has continued to marginalise the region.
“This kind of discrimination should not be lost on Ndigbo, especially at this period of reckoning and payback.
“If Mr. president loves Ndigbo as he is canvassing, why didn’t he try to balance the glaring absence of Ndigbo at a table where the security of this country is decided?” he queried.