RECRUITS 25,000 FOR COMMUNITY POLICING
SAYS SECURITY AGENCIES COUNTERING ‘UNKNOWN GUNMEN’ IN “LANGUAGE THEY UNDERSTAND”
The Federal Government on Thursday, said the case involving the newly promoted former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has not been concluded.
The government said that the former EFCC boss will f s prosecution if indicted by probe panel chaired by Justice Ayo Salami (retd).
Magu was retired after he was promoted to the position of Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG.
Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, disclosed this at the 38th Session of the State House Briefing by the Presidential Media Team.
Dingyadi, while providing the current status of policing and security in the country, also provided insight on key updates from the Presidential Roadmap on Police Reform.
President Muhammadu Buhari, had on July 2020, set up an investigative panel headed by Salami to probe Magu, following the allegations sent to the presidency against him by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
However, the Salami panel concluded its assignment and released their reports in November of same 2020, to the President.
They recommended that Magu be removed as EFCC boss, “for failing to properly account for N431,000,000.00 security votes and information fund released to the office of the Executive Chairman of EFCC between November 2015 and May 2020”.
Dingyadi, said he cannot comment on why the Police authorities has not acted on the recommendations of the panel but chose to promote Magu to the position of AIG.
“This is an issue that should have been addressed by the Police Service Commission, who have the responsibility to conduct promotions of the police
“They are not here. And I am aware that the Police Service Commission is directly under the presidency. So I cannot speak for them.
“But what I know is that Mr. Magu has already retired and that is what I can tell you now. The fact that he was promoted is a matter for the Police Commission to maybe throw more light on.
” I’m not aware of the position of government on the report you are talking about and I think it is still under consideration.
“It doesn’t mean that when he retires, the laws will not catch up with him whenever he is found guilty. So, I think it’s not a completely finished business.”
When asked to address the issue of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abbah Kyari, the Minister, also declined to give update on the corruption charges against Kyari.
He stated that the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police is facing prosecution, noting that it would be subjudice to do so.
“You also wanted to know the latest on Abba Kyari. The issue of Abba Kyari, you all know where it is. It’s a matter in court. So for me to talk about it, it amounts to subjudice.
“So please, let’s wait for the decision of the court on the matter. And we’ll all be there to wish the court the best in whatever they see fit in the matter,” he said.
Dingyadi disclosed that the unknown gunmen causing havoc in the South-East are criminals and terrorists adding that the government is dealing with them in the language they understand.
The Minister said, “Okay, the unknown gunmen, you want to know who they are? I want to tell you that they are unknown gunmen and they are also criminals.
“They’re terrorists and we are dealing with them in the language they understand.”
According to him, the Police has started to deploy technology in dealing with crime in the country.
He said the Police authorities are working hard to be civil in their operations but would deploy firearms where necessary in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Speaking on community policy, the Minister said that the policy has commenced.
“And it has commenced and we couldn’t have trained 25,000 constabularies if the programme has not started.
“So, the programme is on course, and is in all the 36 states of the Federation, and these constabularies have been posted to their various communities, and like I said, in my presentation, to do a lot of policing activities in those areas, and to add to the visibility of police in those communities.
“And the responsibility of the communities in which these constabularies are being posted, is to cooperate with them to ensure that they assist them in sharing intelligence, in reporting cases that need to be reported, and to assist them in resolving issues that can be easily or locally resolved.
“So, the community policing programme is there for the communities to ensure that they collaborate with these constabularies to provide peace in their communities.”
Dingyadi noted that the ministry got approval to recruit 40,000 constables out of which 20,000 has already been achieved, stressing that the plan is to have 30,000 constables on the payroll in the next two months.
“On the recruitment of police being controversial. I don’t know how controversial. I want to tell you that I’ve already given a report on this.
“You will recall that Mr. President had directed us to recruit 40,000 Constables within his second tenure.
U”We have so far done 20,000. We are on the third tranche of this recruitment. And I think in the next one month or two, we will be concluding, the third tranche and we will be having about 30,000 constables on our payroll.”