Acting Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar Adamu has ordered with immediate effect the decentralization of the operations of the Special anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), which hitherto had been centralised at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The IGP made this known during the inaugural meeting with Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and Commissioners of Police across all Police Commands and Formations and other strategic police managers, held at the Force Headquarters (FHQ), in Abuja on Monday.
He stressed that the initiative has become imperative to give the police a new direction adding that commissioners of Police in each of the 36 Police Commands and the FCT are to assume full Command and Control authority on all SARS in their Commands, while the FHQ Unit is, henceforth, subsumed under the command of the Deputy Inspector General Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (DIG FCIID).
“ The import of this is that the DIG FCIID and Command CPs shall from this date, not only assume administrative and operational control of SARS in their respective Commands, they shall also be directly held liable for any professional misconducts resulting from the operations of the Units in their Commands. Consequently, they are to immediately undertake a detailed evaluation of the Units in their Commands and submit a report to my Office within the next two weeks.
“Similarly, all quasi-investigation and operations outfits including the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) and Special Tactical Squad (STS) or any other such Teams under whatever name are hereby disbanded. The DIG FCIID is to takeover and review all cases that such Teams are currently handling as well as official assets on charge to them and submit a detailed report to my Office within two weeks. Similar comprehensive reorganisation will be undertaken in the investigative, intelligence and special operations arms of the Force comprising of the Police Mobile Force, Counterterrorism Unit and the Special Protection Unit,” he said.
The IGP pointed out that this re-positioning process will eventually cascade down to the Zonal and State Command levels. He explained that the essence is to restore order and apply a break to the current slide in policing standards and discourage the proliferation of multiplicity of outfits competing for operational space in the most unprofessional manner.
“We shall enhance the capacity of the Force towards situating our operations within the principles and practice of Intelligence-led policing and human rights standards, and align our operations to modern dynamics,” he said.
On the coming Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 16th February, 2019 and the Governorship, State Assembly, and Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections slated for Saturday 2nd March 2019, the IGP said the elections will not only task the force but will subject their professionalism and commitment to duty to national and international scrutiny.
“Similarly, I identified the two national engagements as being a priority to my leadership. In furtherance to this, I have laid out a number of engagements that are critical to the attainment of our election security mandate within the context of the Electoral Act. Within the past few days, I have received briefs from Heads of Departments and I have also attended the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) which was hosted by the National Security Adviser and which had all strategic leaders in the election security architecture in attendance,” he said.
The IGP added that the strategic planning meeting is designed to achieve three major objectives. First is to evaluate police performance in previous electoral engagements with a view to drawing lessons, ascertaining performance gaps and identifying critical operational challenges that can be addressed in the process of planning for the upcoming general elections.
The second purpose of the conference he said is to undertake national security threat analysis and level of preparation for the elections at the State Command levels, discuss limitations and evaluate strategies towards managing the identified threats.
The third and perhaps, most important is to enable professional interaction between the Police, INEC leadership, and strategic partners across the country with a view to perfecting interventions that will aid in the attainment of the election security mandate as the lead agency in the election security management process.
The credibility of any election is determined not just by the legal framework regulating it and the conduct of the actors within the process but by the extent of professionalism and operational competence displayed by the Police.
He assured the nation and the international community that the Nigeria Police Force shall coordinate effectively with other complementary security agencies, and collaborate efficiently with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission in guaranteeing a safe and secure space for the citizens to freely exercise their electoral franchise.
He also warned that electoral offenders will be decisively dealt with and to ensure that such offenders are conclusively brought to justice, the DIG FCIID has been directed to set up Special Election Investigation Teams (SEIT) that will be tasked with the exclusive functions of taking in custody and undertake detailed investigation of all arrested electoral offenders across the country. “The Teams shall also liaise with the Independent National Electoral Commission towards the prompt processing of the casefiles of the offenders for prosecution,” he said.
He charged the officers at the meeting to remain dedicated to their professional calling, exhibit the highest possible level of leadership and the strongest possible quality of character towards advancing Nigeria’s common mandate of ensuring internal security and guaranteeing a peaceful and credible electoral process.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
