Inside Out Going Inspector General Of Police, Solomon Arase’s Report Card As New Man Ibrahim Kpotun Idris Prepares To Take Over As 19th IGP

According to a report available

Solomon Ehigiator Arase retired yesterday as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). He is one of the few police chiefs who served out their tenure without blemish.

Arase, who was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan on April 21, last year, replaced Mr. Suleiman Abba when the latter fell out with the Jonathan presidency.

He was inherited and retained by President Muhammadu Buhari who assumed the
presidency on May 29, last year. Arguably, Arase could be said to have enjoyed a smooth tenure under the Buhari presidency. With a background in police intelligence and a good measure of horse sense, the cop successfully navigated his way through his 13-month tenure unscathed.

Upon resumption he was confronted with the task of securing the governorship elections in Imo, Abia and Taraba states, which were declared inconclusive at first ballot. The general impression was that the police under his watch successfully executed the task in the three states. Added to that was the first ballot and the subsequent supplementary poll in Kogi State, which he also superintended.

The crack team of detectives that he assembled was able to arrest the abductors of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Chief Olu Falae, who was abducted on his farm by some herdsmen in September last year. Similarly, the police under his watch also apprehended the killers of an Army Col. Samaila Yunusa in Kaduna. His team also rescued the three female students abducted by gunmen from their dormitory in Babington Macauley Junior Secondary School in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb. The girls were reunited with their parents and their abductors apprehended.

The team also arrested members of robbery gang who raided commercial banks on the island, Ikorodu and Festac Town. His men also apprehended the herdsmen who attacked and killed some villagers in Nimbo community, Enugu State. Under Arase’s watch, the police apprehended the killers of Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, who was beaten and stoned to death by some religious bigots in Kano for “blaspheming” Prophet Mohammed.

He ensured the establishment of a Complaint Response Unit (CRU) in the Police Force. The unit is a police ombudsman, which conducts 24-hour monitoring of cases of impunity and
misconduct by police personnel in the line of duty. Monitoring activities by the CRU led to

the investigation, sanctioning and dismissal of some policemen, including senior officers for misconduct.

Shortly after taking the baton of leadership, Arase ordered the dismantling of police roadblocks nationwide. In his efforts to tackle the acute residential accommodation problem bedeviling the Force, he initiated a number of housing schemes for the officer cadre and the rank and file across the country.

He has to his credit the introduction of safer highway patrol, scholarship schemes for officers’ children in police schools. Some training initiatives for capacity building for police personnel were also undertaken by the Arase-led police.

Among the schemes were special training in counter-terrorism, special protection, manpower development, rebranding of the Special Anti-Robbery Unit and the creation of the police central information unit.

However, much as he tried, Arase is bequeathing to his successor, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris some of the problems he inherited. For instance, most of the existing barracks have not been refurbished, with redeployed officers and men having to make do with available spaces in abandoned vehicles, disused stalls and other inconveniences while in transit.

On arrival at their new duty posts, many are forced to take accommodation overnight in available corners around the formations, after the day’s work. Their personal effects litter disused and abandoned shelves and cupboards indiscriminately.

They rise very early in the morning to freshen up for the day’s routine.

Across the land, it is the same vicious circle of homelessness confronting police personnel, particularly the rank and file.

If confirmed eventually as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Kpotun Idris will be the 19 indigenous police chief. Solomon Ehigiator Arase bowed out yesterday on his 60th birthday. He retired on his attainment of the retirement age as the 18th IGP.

thenation