To sack the police chief

In a statement by his spokesperson, the president also announced Abba’s replacement, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, in acting capacity. Arase is the nation’s fourth chief law enforcement officer to be appointed by President Jonathan. The president appointed Hafiz Ringim as IGP on September 8, 2010 but asked him to proceed on […]

In a statement by his spokesperson, the president also announced Abba’s replacement, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, in acting capacity. Arase is the nation’s fourth chief law enforcement officer to be appointed by President Jonathan. The president appointed Hafiz Ringim as IGP on September 8, 2010 but asked him to proceed on terminal leave on January 25, 2012; two months before his retirement date. Mohammed Abubakar, whom Abba succeeded, became IGP on January 25, 2012 and proceeded on statutory retirement on July 30, 2014.
The presidential statement gave no reasons for Abba’s abrupt ouster, and the State House has so far not addressed media speculations that Abba was being partly blamed for Jonathan’s failure to secure re-election in last month’s presidential election, and for the overall poor showing of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the general elections.  The reports detailed allegations that Abba had also incurred the wrath of the Presidency on the eve of the governorship and houses of assembly elections for arguing with Presidency officials over a purported presidential directive to recall one of his senior assistants he had despatched to election monitoring duties in Rivers State.
Abba had deployed the assistant inspector general from his base in Calabar to Port Harcourt to oversee the governorship election in Rivers State following complaints by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State that the police had collaborated with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP to intimidate APC members and rig the presidential and national assembly elections in the state. According to these reports, Abba ignored the directive from the Presidency, but had to relent after unspecified threats were made on him. Abba had to cancel the deployment of his assistant, who then left Port Harcourt on election day, leaving open to question what could have happened to assure voter and poll security.  
If there has not been much public outcry and criticism over the shoddy handling of the change of guards at police headquarters, this can be traced to Abba’s own inauspicious beginning as police chief. He was the Presidency’s ‘good boy’ when he acted its script in the disgraceful episode of the police hurling teargas directly at members of the National Assembly, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and prevented them from gaining entrance into their offices on November 20, 2014. Abba’s stature was reduced to ignominious level when he was shown on public television declaring that he did not recognise ‘that man’, meaning Tambuwal, as presiding officer because the Speaker had announced he was leaving the PDP to join the rival All Progressives Congress (APC). Abba’s conduct mirrored the Presidency and the PDP position, and it was a telling public display of loyalty to individuals rather the state and its institutions that marked him out as partisan where his position– and the law– did not permit it
That said, the Presidency does not enjoy the luxury of sacking the nation’s top police chief without publicly stated reasons for doing so. This is especially true of this Presidency, which took the action less than seven weeks to the end of its tenure.
There is still time for President Jonathan to explain to the public why he believed Abba warranted the boot he got. Such weighty issues should not be left to the realm of speculation, because it does the government no good and great harm to the person and career of the officer involved.  Unless this is done, the government’s action would be seen as vindictive given the role of the police in the recent elections that is widely seen to have been civil, compared with previous exercises. Indeed, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, praised the Nigeria Police for exemplary performance in providing security for the polls. Vindictiveness is never a part of measures to discipline a public servant for breaches of the rules.