Posted by From MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja on
Two of the five commissioners of police recently demoted to the rank of deputy commissioner have been relieved of their offices and redeployed in accordance with their new ranks.
Two of the five commissioners of police recently demoted to the rank of deputy commissioner have been relieved of their offices and redeployed in accordance with their new ranks. The affected police officers are Columbus Okaro and Adebayo Ajileye. However, Okaro who was in charge of police legal services is expected to proceed on retirement soon, having completed the statutory 35 years in the police force.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mike Okiro approved the deployment of the two ex-police commissioners, just as disquiet pervaded the Louis Edet House Force Headquarters in Abuja over alleged politicization of recent postings by the IGP.
Okiro, in a police wireless message dated August 7, 2008, which redeployed Okaro and Ajileye, also approved the posting of several other senior officers including area commanders and further directed immediate compliance from those affected by the demotions of 140 officers announced last week by the Police Service Commission.
Both Ajileye and Okaro were beneficiaries of special promotions effected on February 18, 2006 during the tenure of IGP, Sunday Ehindero, alongside a select crop of officers including erstwhile chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu; the late Kaduna police boss, Haz Iwendi, CP IGP Monitoring Unit, Amodu Ali, CP Special Fraud Unit, Olayinka Balogun, and DCP CID, Panti-Lagos, Adeleye Oyebade.
Meanwhile, some top officers are kicking over alleged politicization of the recent postings by the IGP, which they perceived to be targeted at a pre-determined goal.
'We are not happy with the emerging pattern of postings. It is very clear that the IG is not in full control. From the look of things, there are forces working on him, and he seemed to have capitulated to their whims and caprices so as to sustain his own hidden agenda. He is gradually losing grip, simply because he seemed so relaxed after his confirmation,' said a police top shot who spoke to Daily Sun on condition of animosity.