Arase: The Architect of Intelligence Policing
LChuks Akunna ast Wednesday, a reporter of a major newspaper complained aloud that he missed an assignment at the Police headquarters in Abuja.
According to the reporter, he had been invited to cover a maiden meeting of the newly appointed Inspector General of Police Mr. Solomon Arase and senior police officers. The meeting, he said, was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
“I got there at a few minutes past 11am only to hear that the assignment was over. Initially, I thought it was a joke. I didn’t believe it until I saw a few colleagues of mine who confirmed that only two reporters covered the event as most of us came late,” reeled the reporter.
He continued, “This came as a pleasant surprise. The norm is for us to wait hours on end for assignments. Sometimes, after waiting for hours the event would be called off,” adding, “this Arase may truly be a different breed.’
On Tuesday, April 21, 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Solomon Ehigiator Arase the 18th indigenous Inspector General of Police having unceremoniously fired Suleiman Abba whom he appointed 11 months earlier.
While Abba’s sack came as a huge surprise, Arase’s appointment, on the other hand, surprised a few. Following the retirement, last May, of Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, Jonathan had reportedly penciled down Arase as the next police boss.
THISDAY gathered that President Jonathan had directed that all police officers from the rank of Assistant Inspector Generals (AIGs) be profiled to get the best man for the position of IG. In addition, the officers were reportedly asked to sit for a short test. At the end of the day, Arase, who at the time was AIG in charge of Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), reportedly bested the others.
Considered one of the most cerebral officers to have served in the Nigeria Police Force, the die seemed cast to have Arase appointed IG. THISDAY gathered that several governors and high ranking security officers had indeed called to congratulate Arase on the imminent appointment. A top ranking member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and confidant of President Jonathan had emphatically told THISDAY that Arase would take over from MD Abubakar.
However, a few days later, the same PDP official called THISDAY. Sounding worried, the officer relayed how powerful northern interests may have forced Jonathan to have a rethink on Arase.
“I heard that top leaders from the north are blackmailing Mr. President that appointing Arase IG would mean that all key security agencies are manned by southern Christians,” began the politician.
When THISDAY demanded what the president’s reaction was, he retorted, “it is like Mr. President has fallen for it.
“He has now settled for Suleiman Abba, who was ADC to Maryam Abacha. We have sent key governors from the South south to talk things over with Arase that we all know he is the most qualified by education, experience, training in addition to the most senior in terms of enlistment in the Force.
“However, that with the elections a few months away such blackmail won’t be good for Mr. President. He (Arase) will be promoted DIG (Deputy Inspector General) and will work closely with Abba,” disclosed the PDP official.
A few days after Abba was announced the 17th Inspector General of Police, the same PDP official called THISDAY.
“The truth of the matter,” began the officer, “is that we didn’t want Arase because we heard that he is a very intel- ligent and independent-minded man who will most likely not do our bidding.
“The next (2015) election is the most critical. We don’t want an IG who will not listen to us. From what we’ve heard about Arase, he is a professional officer who does his job without bending the rules, so the best thing was to go for a man who will work for Mr. President,” he disclosed.
On why Jonathan would appoint three IGs in a row from the same Northwest zone, the party officer blurted, “it doesn’t matter.”
He noted, “at least Abba has a university degree unlike the two half-educated officers before him. Interestingly, all the IGs appointed since 1999- Musiliu Smith, Tafa Balogun, Sunday Ehindero, Mike Okiro and Ogbonnaya Onovoeach had a minimum of a second degree.
However, the trend changed with Jonathan’s emergence as Acting President. Rather than raise the bar, the President, apparently nudged by sentiments, in September 2010 appointed Hafiz Ringim Inspector General of Police. From the onset, it seemed clear that Ringim was a wrong choice for the office. Aside a diploma, Ringim’s other qualification perhaps was his service as Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State during Jonathan’s stint as governor.
Given that under Ringim’s watch as Assistant Inspector General of Police in Zone 9, Umuahia, kidnappers had a field day, as IG very few expected him to fare better. Aside the security challenges which overwhelmed Ringim, the Jigawa-born officer proved ineffective in containing the crisis that trailed the 2011 general elections. Even at that Jonathan kept him. One morning in June 2011, Ringim jetted off to Maiduguri, capital of Borno State. Once in the city which was swarming with Boko Haram terrorists the police boss handed 10 armoured personnel carriers and other security gadgets donated by the state government to the police. In the exuberance of the occasion the police boss handed a 10-day time frame to crush Boko Haram, boasting that with the security hardware the days of Boko Haram were numbered. Apparently, the terrorists weren’t amused.
On June 16, 2011, barely two days after Ringim’s Maiduguri boast, Boko Haram terrorists brought the fight to the police. A suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden car behind Ringim’s motorcade into the eight-storey edifice blew himself and some policemen up. Unknown to many, Ringim’s display of ineptitude was yet to come.
Six months prior to the attack on the police headquarters, on Christmas day, suspected terrorists had launched a similar attack on churches in Jos, Gadaka, Damaturu and Madalla, near Abuja. A total of 41 people were killed in the attacks.
Months after the Madalla attack, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) announced the capture of one Kabiru Umar alias Sokoto. Umar was accused of masterminding the bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla. The DSS promptly handed Sokoto over to the police for “further investigations and prosecution.”
Early one morning, the world was treated to reports that Sokoto escaped while being escorted by Commissioner of Police Zakiri Biu to search the former’s house in Abaji, a suburb of Abuja. This national embarassment, among other issues bordering on incompetence, led to Ringim’s sack as IG.
It would seem that Mohammed Abubakar learnt a few lessons from Ringim. The first, it seemed, was to let sleeping dogs lie. During Abubakar’s tenure the police took a back bench in the fight on terror, leaving the fight exclusively for the military. The new IG’s stance seemed to lend credence to claims by those opposed to his appointment that, considering Abubakar’s religious bias when he was the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, he wasn’t fit for the office.
The report of a panel headed by the late Justice Niki Tobi on the Plateau religious crisis read in part, “Religious fanatics should not be posted to head state police commands. The commission recommends that for his ignoble role during the September 2001 crises, which resulted in the loss of lives, the former Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, Alhaji M.D. Abubakar, be advised to retire from the Nigeria Police Force and in the event of his refusal to do so, he should be dismissed from the service.”
Given the controversies surrounding the chain of IGs from Ringim to Abba, it behoves on Arase to change the very dented image of the Nigeria Police Force.
With a chain of degrees in political science, law, and strategic studies, Arase is one of the few officers equipped for the job. What is more, Arase’s training at the Nigeria Defence College (NDC) and experience garnered as Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to three IGs are added advantages.
His being the first officer from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) to become IG is an added advantage. As a man who has traveled wide investigating international crimes and attending training workshops on modern policing methods, Arase is expected to bring all these to bear on his office.
Security analysts believe he has begun well.
At his maiden meeting with the top officers the new IG promised to use existing databases of the National Identity Card Management Commission and the Federal Road Safety Corps motor license to support police operations.
He also promised to use cutting-edge technology in all crime management and operational activities. Emphasis, he said, would henceforth be placed on crime scene management; establishment of state-of-the-art national forensic support centre; in-car camera and in-car data base access to support patrol functions, in addition to establishing a National Criminal Database (Criminal Investigations Record System) and crime mapping.
With a new administration waiting in the wings, a security expert appealed that Arase be given time to re-organise the Nigeria Police Force.
“True, Arase was appointed by the outgoing administration. However, everything shouldn’t be politics. What Nigeria needs at this stage is progress. If a man proves to be competent, let us shelve political considerations and support him. This is what the incoming administration should consider,” he declared.