The Police Service Commission has approved the redeployment of 37 Commissioners of Police for the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had sought the approval of the the PSC to redeploy the officers ahead of the general elections.
The PSC spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, revealed in a statement in Abuja on Thursday that the commission had approved the redeployment of the officers. He added that the Commissioners of Police were expected to proceed immediately to their new commands before the polls.
In the new redeployment, Egbetokun Kayode whose earlier posting to Lagos State was aborted by the acting IG, was redeployed to Kwara State on Wednesday.
The FCT CP, Bala Ciroma, and his Ogun State counterpart, Ahmed Iliyasu, however, retained their positions, while Mu’azu Zubairu would take over from Edgal Imohimi in Lagos State.
The Commissioners of Police and the states they are deployed to are: “Buba Sanusi, Katsina State; Mohammed Wakili, Kano State; Rabiu Ladodo, Jigawa State; Mu’azu Zubairu, Lagos State; Ibrahim Sabo, Niger State; Alkassam Sanusi, Taraba State; Garba M. Mukaddas, Adamawa State; Omololu Bishi, Benue State; and Bola Longe, Nasarawa State.
Others are Isaac Akinmoyede deployed to Plateau State; Odumosu Hakeem, Edo State; Olushola David, Bayelsa State; Adeleke Yinka, Delta State; Austin Iwero Agbonlahor, Cross River State; Bashir Makama, Akwa Ibom State; Awosola Awotunde, Ebonyi State; Belel Usman, Rivers State; Bello Makwashi, Gombe State; and Abdulrahman Ahmed, Kaduna State.”
The remaining CPs are Hakeem Busari, Kogi State; Asuquo Amba, Ekiti State; Galadanchi Dasuki, Imo State; Suleiman Balarabe, Enugu State; Dandaura Mustapha, Anambra State; Etim Ene Okon, Abia State; Ibrahim Kaoje, Sokoto State; Celestine Okoye, Zamfara State; Garba Danjuma, Kebbi State; Abiodun Ige, Osun State; Undie Adie, Ondo State; Olukolu Shina, Oyo State; Ali Janga, Bauchi State; Damian Chukwu, Bornu State; and Sumonu Abdulmalik, Yobe State.”
Aslo, the Chairman of the Commission, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, tasked the CPs to quickly settle at their new posts and ensure that the elections at their various commands were peaceful, free, fair and transparent.
Read also: Obasanjo protected, rewarded Bola Ige’s killers, Soyinka alleges
He noted, “Our nation cannot afford any disruption of the elections anywhere as the world is looking up to Nigeria for a proof that its democracy has continued to mature.”
However, the opposition political parties under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties has alleged that the redeployment was at the instance of the All Progressives Congress.
The spokesman for the coalition, Imo Ugochinyere, claimed that the police hierarchy had asked some APC leaders to name the commissioners, area commanders, divisional police officers, SARS commanders, Rapid Response Squad Commanders and MOPOL Commanders they wanted in their states.
He said, “The manipulation includes asking selected and designated leaders of the APC to choose the officers that will work with them. Unfortunately, the acting Inspector-General of Police (Mohammed Adamu) has succumbed to their ploy and is now taking instructions from a political party on police postings.”
Ugochinyere added, “The Presidency has deliberately kept him in an acting capacity to use his confirmation as a bait to get him to do their bidding. He is now completely at their beck and call and their usual line to him are, ‘we will talk to the President about your confirmation, that you really helped us.’
“The entire security architecture of the elections has been put in grave danger and the people given the responsibility to provide security for lives and property are the same set of people jeopardising the security of the country.”
“The acting IG is set to among other politically tainted postings announce the appointment of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, a former CSO to Bola Tinubu, as the Kwara State CP,” he added.
“The APC wants to post Egbetokun to Kwara to ensure that votes do not count in the state and that Senator Bukola Saraki and the PDP must not win in Kwara even if the people vote for them.
“Where all the manipulated postings are not reversed, our resolution is that the Nigerian opposition will not be at the peace accord signing to validate and grant legitimacy to the grand violence module and rigging design of the APC.”
Also speaking on the development, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, has alleged that Egbetokun has been instructed to cause chaos in Kwara to enable the APC to rig the elections.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Ologbondiyan alleged that the police officers being posted had been directed to intimidate, harass and manhandle those against Buhari’s re-election.
Ologbondiyan explained, “Nigerians are aware of how Egbetokun was posted to Lagos State by the former IG, Idris Ibrahim, to serve the same partisan interest and how that posting was stopped by the new IGP. Now, he is being redeployed to Kwara State for the same ignoble plot.
“The deployment of Kayode Egbetokun as the Kwara State CP directly negates the principle of the peace accord and can only hurt the fragile peace that currently exists in the state.”