Though not a Police officer, she personifies the Nigeria Police Force,
NPF, more than even the personnel.
With over 30 years of associating with the institution, it could be safe
to humorously say that she is more Police than the Police.
Just the way Police officers often say during an altercation with
civilians: “Oga you can’t teach me my job,” she can unequivocally
teach a policeman key things about policing.
Aisha Tosan
This is no extreme exaggeration, as it truly mirrors her capacity in an
institution she loves dearly even without being a personnel.
Aisha Tosan’s knowledge of both the fundamental and pedestrian
aspects of policing is such that could rival that of men, who had
occupied the highest echelon of the force.
Even the late Professor Jean-Paul Brodeur, son of a Canadian
policeman, and author of The Policing Web, who became a global
authority with his theories in crime, would marvel at her
understanding of modern policing.
Standing up for societal good
Her bonding with the institution, which is regarded as the most
disliked in the country, seemed unbreakable.
It was this affinity that nudged her into speaking exclusively to
Saturday Vanguard about what she considered the accentuation of the
root in the sector under its present leadership.
IGP-Idris
From her tone during the interview, it was obvious that Aisha, who is
the Executive Producer of popular television program, Crime Fighters,
is sad about the current happenings in the Force. Hence, her decision
to bare it all not minding whose ox is gored. It is to help the police
and Nigeria as a whole.
Given her closeness to the institution and knowing Nigerians for not
standing up for societal good when it matters most, many would
certainly wonder if she cared about the likelihood of backlash that
might trail this publication.
But Tosan, who has a Ph.D. in Policing, was not bothered, as she
considered her revelations an urgent plea for supervisory action by the
appropriate authorities, especially the Presidency.
Coming at a time when Senator Isa Misau accused the NPF
leadership of elevating corruption in the force, makes Eyinwumi’s
story of alleged malpractices by same leadership a revealing read.
People who are due for promotion
Based on her convictions, she told Saturday Vanguard thus: ‘’When I
speak, I speak from the perspective of somebody, who knows what she
is talking about. I was a Crime Correspondent with Vanguard for 15
years and left to do Crime Fighter with the Police for 17 years. I have
been in the police circle for more than 30 years. I have also done a
Ph.D. on policing.
So, I am much grounded in what I am talking about. Corruption has
been in the Force even before the time of Tafar Balogun.
Unfortunately, successive governments have not been able to address
the challenges associated with the leadership of the Police Force.
After the exit of Tafar Balogun, we had Inspector Generals of Police,
IGP’s, who were like Tarfa. Apart from Suleiman and Onovo, I don’t
think I can vouch for other IGPs that came after Tarfa.
Nepotism is also corruption
‘’When we talk about corruption, it has to be properly defined because
there is something we are missing in this clime about corruption. We
seem to think that corruption is just about people, who steal money.
Nepotism is also corruption. When you promote people above those
higher than them, it is corruption. When you forcefully befriend a girl
in your office, it is corruption. All of these happen in the Nigerian
Police Force.
Lobbying of emirs for posting
“There is nothing that Senator Misau said that is not right. Everything
he said is happening in the Force. The truth is that I cannot pinpoint
that someone gave another person money in order to get promoted.
But the truth is that people lobby to get posting. People lobby
politicians and emirs to get posting. These days it has become a
tradition that people must lobby emirs to get posting. State governors
are also lobbied to get posting, particularly those in the cadre of
Commissioners of Police and IGP, and Assistant Inspector General of
Police, AIG.
It is sickening that under the present regime that prides itself as
fighting corruption, well-trained Commissioners of Police are
grounded in Force Headquarters. And the incumbent is promoting
Assistant Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of
Police twice within six months.
And they were made to head state commands. There is going to be a
backlash on this and I am willing to defend it. The Police Act says
that an officer from the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police,
ACP, can be referred to as a Police Commissioner. But
administratively, because the Police are a discipline organisation, they
follow the promotion on seniority bases and promotions are also done
on seniority basis.
Posting competent hands to state commands
‘’ In the past, what the Police management did was to look at
competent hands, who would be posted to state commands that are
turbulent. The commands include Bornu, Rivers, Lagos, Oyo, and
Delta. These are states that are referred to as flashpoints and
competent police officers are the ones that are supposed to be posted
there instead of young Commissioners of Police.
Okiro
It is also a tradition that when officers have two years or one year to
retire, the officers are sent to different commands where they will
impact their knowledge.
But what do we have now? Ibrahim became IGP and grounded
substantive Commissioners of Police in Force headquarters and on his
own, gave acting positions to Deputy Commissioners of Police, who
were promoted within the period of three months. These are people
that do not have the experience.
Policing a state comes with a lot of experience. But you don’t
begrudge the officers, who got patronised by the police leadership.
Rather, the leadership and the Police Service Commission, PSC,
should be blamed. Having done my research for my Ph.D.
on policing and donated a copy to Police leadership, I know so much
about the Force. It is the responsibility of the PSC under the Section
215 and Section 216 for the PSC to transfer Commissioners of Police.
But the Police came to an understanding between themselves when
there was a face-off between Parry Osayande, Onovo, and ex-Minister
of Police Affairs, Lame that the IGP should have an input into the
postings of Commissioners of Police because he is the one, who is
going to work with them. But that does not take away the fact that the
PSC plays a fundamental role in ensuring that substantive
Commissioners, who are well grounded in operational matters are
posted to commands.
There is so much bad blood in the system
“What we have now are situations where the IGP will single-handedly
promote and transfer the Commissioners. And the PSC under the
leadership of Mike Okiro would rubber-stamp it. I have once called
Okiro to ask why he is allowing such, but he said the IGP was the one,
who knows the officers very well and better placed to post them to
commands. But I disagreed with him because he was once an IGP and
if they did what he is doing to other officers to him, how would he
have felt? There is so much bad blood in the system. Officers are
demoralised, Commissioners of Police don’t have roofs over their
heads.
When they are posted to Abuja, they pay their hotel bills themselves.
They don’t have staff cars. Meanwhile, funds are being moved around
for the purpose of bribing emirs. So, it has become a culture for the
leadership to be moving money around under the guise of doing public
relations stunts. It is so bad to the extent that the present leadership
is not listening to anybody.
Section 214, Section 215
‘’Again, I want to refer to Section 214, Section 215 and Section 216
which stated that the Police Council that is chaired by the President
should call the IGP to order, otherwise, a minister that is the
representative of the President has the right to call the IGP to order.
But as we speak, nobody is calling the IGP to order.
We really don’t know what is happening. If the Police are truly under
the Ministry of Interior, is the minister happy with what is going on in
the Force? Does he understand what is happening? If the President is
the Chairman of the Police Council, is he not listening to what is
happening in the Police Force? Mine is to save the Nigerian Police
Force. I am not interested in whoever becomes the IGP. Enough is
enough.
On what accentuated the rot under the present leadership
“It is because successive governments have not taken time to
understand that the choice of who they make IGP matters. During the
military era, before an IGP was chosen, his antecedents were
considered. The Department of State Security Services, SSS,
Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI, and National Intelligence
Agency, NIA, would be made to scrutunise the curriculum vitae, of the
people.
That is why those, who were chosen as IGP then were those, who
understood that the military government was watching and they could
be removed at any time. As it were, I stand to be challenged that
Obasanjo did not fight corruption in the force with the removal of
Tarfa. After Obasanjo, we lost track. That is why Ehindero is still
under the ICPC radar. After Ehindero, nobody again has turned the
radar on the IGPs.
‘’It even became worst during the administration of Goodluck
Jonathan. It was such that an IGP could do anything and nobody did
anything. And the worst aspect was that officers would have to lobby
to be posted. If someone does not have a godfather, he would not get
good posting. It does not matter whether the person is brilliant or not.
So, the brilliant ones, who are truly willing to do the job are frustrated.
Closeness to IGP, minister, and senator
‘’This scenario that I just painted now became a norm for younger
officers, who lobby in order to be posted. For instance, they said they
are giving special promotion. What determines it? It is just closeness
to the IGP, a minister, and senator among others.
In fact, there is a certain civilian in Lagos, who tells anyone that the
person can become a DCP tomorrow and it would come to pass.
Officers no longer believe in hardwork and service to the nation. They
believe their loyalty is to one individual. And once they are loyal to
that individual, they can be given a special promotion.
‘’Those officers, who are working, who are daily battling scourges of
robbery and kidnapping, are not being promoted. With the exception of
Aba Kyari, all the special promotions they did recently were officers,
who were sitting in the comfort of their offices.
They were not those engaged in operation in the battlefield. They were
promoted over their seniors. For instance, someone, who may still be
in secondary school when his colleague joined the Police 10 year
earlier, can become a senior officer because he has been given a
special promotion.
Proviso for special promotion
‘’The Commissioner of Police in Adamawa that Senator Misau
mentioned is a typical example. He was given a special promotion.
His mates are still Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, and he is
already a Commissioner. How would his mates feel? Is that not
corruption? There is a proviso that officers can be given special
promotion but there is also a proviso for that special promotion to be
given. But the leadership abuse that proviso by giving their cronies
special promotion. So, that has destroyed discipline in the Force and
discipline is the bedrock of any organisation. The situation is so bad
that someone, who is a DSP today, would be a CSP by the time he
gets to Force Headquarters next week. It is either Buhari saves Nigeria
through saving the Police Force or he does not want to save Nigeria.
No corporate governance in NPF
‘’I am saying this and I saying it clearly that fighting corruption is not
just to fight corrupt politicians alone. Buhari should look at the civil
service and other structures of governance and begin to make the
leaders of these institutions account for their actions. People are
appointed to positions and they become demigods.
There is no corporate governance. I speak for the organization I know
so well and I am saying that there is no corporate governance in the
Police. The IGP decides and that is all. When they even go for
conferences, it’s always a one-man show because Deputy Inspector
Generals, DIGs, and other officers would be at sea.
How can such an organization move forward? How can one individual
know it all? That is what has happened over the years. The DIGs are
not allowed to do their jobs. In fairness to Ibrahim Idris, this thing did
not start in his regime. It has been like that. Once an IGP is appointed,
it becomes a winner takes it all situation.
Not the work of one individual
‘’Except a DIG is subservient that is when he becomes the IGP’s
friend. Otherwise, if the DIG’s opinion differs with that of the IGP, he
is seen as someone who wants to take IGP’s job. And I begin to
wonder, whose job? Policing is not the work of one individual, it
requires collective responsibility. Because the President has not been
supervising, he also has his share of the blame. When you put
someone on a seat, the person should be supervised.
If the Minister cannot supervise the Police Force, the PSC should sit
up. Imagine the number of officers, who were wasted for the present
IGP to be appointed. Brilliant officers were retired. I once asked my
friend, Babatunde Fashola why the present IGP was picked, he said he
was not the one that decides. He said it was not in his place to
question the decision.
Leadership not listening to advice
‘’All the good jobs that past IGPs did are not being sustained.
Somebody like MD Abubakar did a good job, but he was not listening
to advice.
Solomon Arase did a good job but he was not able to fight corruption.
But in terms of putting some structures that would move the force
forward in place, he did well. But those structures that have been put
in place have also been dismantled by the incumbent. The claim of
fighting corruption is not real. A visit to Force Headquarters will reveal
how senior Police Commissioners are treated. There is no longer
respect for senior officers, who are being treated like houseboys. Their
inputs do not matter. The issue became this obvious in this
dispensation because no one is supervising the Force. If the situation
is not arrested big trouble looms for Nigeria. The police can’t continue
like this.
No one is supervising the Force
‘’This dispensation is a closed government that you cannot access.
They have no listening ears. Otherwise, this should not have
degenerated to this level. If it was a government that has listening
ears, it should have understood that injustice is going on in the
Nigerian Police Force. These things were done by other IGPs and they
got away with them.
Arase promoted his boys towards the end of his tenure. It was termed
a parting gift. But what sort of parting gift was that? Why must it be
that officers with connections are the people who are promoted?
These things start from the Villa. The moment a police officer is
made a Chief Security Officer, CSO, and the person will be given a
special promotion.
‘’The letter from the Office of the Chief of Staff recommending the
person for a special promotion, would later be made to accommodate
the names of the loyalists of the IGP before it gets to the PSC. At the
PSC, the letter would be approved. That is the game. That is why
everyone wants to be close to a senator or a minister. There are
those, who are truly doing their jobs and are not corrupt. There those,
who do not know how to lobby. Some of us believe in hardwork.
Why governors lobby for Commissioners of Police
‘’If the Federal Government was alive to its responsibilities, nobody
will be talking about state police.
States that are doing well today like Lagos are doing so because all
the leaders that have been elected, cared about the people. They knew
that if they were to get the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR right,
they must get security right. That is why security is number one on the
radar of the state. It is also for that reason that successive governors
of the state invested in security. ‘’Other states have followed suit.
That is why state governors lobby for certain Commissioners to be
posted to their states. If competent officers were being posted to
commands, state governors would not have been lobbying. In Edo
State today, the governor and the Commissioner of Police do not seem
to be in a good relationship.
The governor is frustrated that crime has taken over the state. It is
because we have a leadership that is not listening. A lot of former
IGPs, who I have spoken to said they would not speak to the present
leadership because it does not listen to counsel. They don’t want to
be ridiculed by him. Some very senior retired IGPs have also stayed
away to allow the man in charge do what he wants to do against wise
counsel.
On nexus between what is happening and crime rate
‘’Policing is a tough job and it requires experience. In policing there
are people that are operationally grounded. There are also officers
that are grounded in investigation and administration. If you move
officers that are not operationally grounded as Commissioners of
Police, there will not be good results. When they post such people to
commands, they take DCP’s that are operationally grounded and
make them in charge of operations. But individual differences are
there. That Commissioner of Police that is not operationally sound
would begin to frustrate the DCP. If the Commissioner is not doing
anything right, the DCP would just keep quiet because he is bound to
respect his superior officer.
State govs give allowance to Commissioners
‘’A Commissioner of Police that is operationally grounded should be
able to carry the Area Commanders along. But some Commissioners
of Police don’t have that ability. Some believe that when they are
posted to commands, it is an opportunity to make money. That is why
they put pressure on Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, and Area
Commanders. That is why certain areas are known for extortion.
They claim that they are not corrupt but it is not true. They don’t tell
the media the truth. And the media, especially the print media no
longer do investigative journalism to know the truth about what is
happening in the system. In fairness to all state governors, they give
allowances to the Commissioners.
The good Commissioners make sure that the allowances are passed
on to the commands for them to be able to run their offices because
what the federal government sends is next to nothing. Some
Commissioners take the money without even telling their Deputy
Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners. In fairness to the
Commissioners also, their salaries are poor.
Current PSC has outlived its usefulness
‘’I think the Police Service Commission as presently constituted has
outlived its usefulness. I have my sister, Comfort Obi, there and Mike
Okiro has been my friend right from when he was a DPO. And he
cannot deny that. But I will say that Okiro has lost it. What the
leadership is doing could not have been done under Parry Osayende,
who retired as a DIG. Osayande stamped his feet on the ground on
issues of discipline and promotion.
He gave promotions at the end of his tenure that were queried. It
formed the bedrock for Okiro to continue. I will say that he has not
done well. He is my friend but we must tell ourselves the truth. He
cannot be there and allow impunity to be going on. The Police are
worst in this dispensation and it is contrary to the change we worked
for. I am the most disappointed because there is no supervision now.