Some policemen have begun to lobby their bosses to avoid being posted
to the violence ravaged North-East, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
The Nigeria Police Force recently said it would begin the first phase
of the deployment of over 6,000 policemen in liberated communities in the
North-East.
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states have been hard hit by the Boko Haram
insurgents in the last decade.
The Inspector-General of Police,
Solomon Arase, had disclosed that the logistics procured and the personnel
mobilised for the first phase of the deployment would be launched on March 18.
But, investigation by Saturday PUNCH
revealed that some policemen have started lobbying to be exempted from the
planned deployment.
Many of them have resorted to
seeking the help of their commissioners of police and other influential
superior officers both at the state commands and the force headquarters to
avoid the redeployment, Saturday PUNCH learnt.
A senior police officer based in
Abuja, who told one of our correspondents that some policemen had indeed been
lobbying not to be posted to the North-East, described the situation as
“normal”.
He said, “People have been
trying to lobby but it is just the people who have strong connection with the
Inspector-General of Police or other very high ranking officers that are likely
to be successful.
“Normally, 80 per cent of
policemen posted to the North-East are usually rank and file. Usually, it is
the people who have stepped on their bosses’ toes that are transferred to the
North-East to be punished.
“Their superiors would send
their names to the Commissioner of Police to be transferred. And they will have
to serve a minimum of three years before they get another transfer.”
Some policemen confirmed to our
correspondents that they have been lobbying their way out of the deployment
plan.
However, there are indications
that only a few of the policemen would be successful in their bid to avoid
redeployment.
An Assistant Superintendent of
Police in the Oyo State Police Command, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said he was already lobbying his superiors in the office to avoid being part of
the over 6,000 policemen to be deployed to the North-East, describing Nigeria
as unworthy of such sacrificial service.
He said, “I will do everything
to lobby my way out of such a posting. I don’t mind any amount that it would
cost me. How can I be happy to be transferred from where I am enjoying my
relative peace?
“Normally, when someone is
transferred to a place like the North-East, he is entitled to some allowance
and accommodation for 22 days because it is assumed that he will need time to
settle down. It is what our constitution says, but we don’t enjoy anything like
that.
“I hear policemen in the
North-East are supposed to be paid N10,000 monthly allowance aside from their
salary but the last time they were paid the allowance was eight months ago.”
A Chief Superintendent of
Police, who simply gave his name as Michael Davies, said most of the rank and
file in the force would rather resign than be deployed in the North-East. He
said most policemen avoid such postings because they are inadequately equipped
to fight insurgency.
He said, “I don’t think anyone
of them wants to go to the troubled region. Those who were transferred to the
place in the past resigned immediately. But who would blame them?
“The Boko Haram insurgents fight
with Uzis, armoured tankers and other sophisticated weapons while our people
are sent to fight them with Hilux vans and AK 47 guns.
“For us to win the war against
the terrorists in the North-East, the police ought to be adequately equipped.”
A police sergeant in the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command said,“Nobody waits till
postings and redeployments are out before they start lobbying not to be posted
to unsafe states,” he said, adding, “We all find a way to warm up to our
superiors so that they could help us when posting comes.”
An Assistant Superintendent of
Police in Ogun State Command, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also
confirmed the situation.
He said, “Our people will do
anything to avoid being posted to the North-East because policemen die like
chickens there. The weapons are bad, yet you expect people to be happy about
being posted to such a war zone.”
A police corporal in the
anti-robbery unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Lagos
State Police Command explained that even though he had got no news of impending
redeployment to the Northern part of the country, it is a prospect that would
depress any policeman.
He said, “It is like receiving
your death warrant if you receive a letter redeploying you to any of the
North-East states. I am personally afraid of something like that. It is not
that I am a coward. I am a human like you.”
Another policeman, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity, said, “If we hear that anyone is posted to the
North-East, it immediately makes us think of death.”
He recalled how one of his
colleagues, who was posted to Borno State in 2013, was killed within six months
of arriving there.
Police officers’ wives
demand insurance for husbands
Meanwhile, some members of the
Police Officers Wives Association have been living in fear since news of the
planned redeployment broke.
The women said they would rather
have their husbands jobless at home than lose them to Boko Haram insurgency.
However, some of them asked for
adequate welfare package, including life insurance for their husbands, if they
would be compulsorily transferred to the trouble region.
Lagos based fashion designer,
Mrs. Ngozi Uka, whose husband is a sergeant at Lagos State Command, said the
insurance package would help the family in case of unforeseen circumstances.
She said, “My prayer is that my
husband is not sent to such a place. But I know the nature of his work,
anything can happen. He has served in four states since we got married 12 years
ago. So, I would be deceiving myself if I think he could not be posted to any
part of the country.
“But in this case, it is not a
normal situation. We need to have insurance. The welfare package should be
increased in case of anything. I tell you, you need to see how people are
hurriedly sent out of the barracks whenever their spouses die.”
Mrs. Rosemary Udoh, the wife of
a police constable, demanded special treatment for families of policemen sent
to dangerous areas.
She said, “The chance that the
men will return home alive is very slim, so they should have proper insurance
packages.
Maria Eze, another wife of a
police inspector, said her husband would not proceed on any transfer if the
welfare package was not improved.
“He would rather stay back home
than to go there and get killed for nothing. We have already discussed it and
thank God he agreed,” Eze said.
No police can reject
posting –Force PRO
The Force Public Relations
Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said the first batch of 6,000 policemen to be
deployed in the North-East had been selected and would soon be transported to
the region.
“There is nothing like lobbying,
we don’t have such a report, and no policeman will reject the posting because
it is a call to duty,” she said.
Kolawole dismissed the fear of
the wives of the policemen and assured them that their husbands’ allowances
would be paid as and when due.
She added that the
Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, had made provision for their
welfare and well-being.
Kolawole added that the
policemen had also been insured and that all the required logistics and
equipment would be provided for them.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had
last week inaugurated some equipment including 200 Toyota Hilux double cabin
vehicles, springbuck armoured personnel carriers, 15 Mercedes Benz troop saloon
cars, nine water tankers and three ambulances for the deployment of policemen
to liberated communities in the North-East.
Source: THE PUNCH
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