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Tag: Ibrahim Idris

  • Governors, IGP meet over State Police, funding

    Governors, IGP meet over State Police, funding

    The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) in the early hours of Thursday met with the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris over the issue of State Police and funding for the Force.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, NGF Chairman and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, said that a six man committee has been set up to explore the various options to properly police the country.

    The committee which has representative from the six geo-Political zones of the country was mandated to come up with the best way of policing the country in view of the myriads of security challenges and its attendant lost of lives.

    Yari said that the IGP had sought the permission for the establishment of media outfits like radio and television for the Police Force.

    He said “We discussed and we received presentation from the Inspector General of Police. He made a presentation to us canvassing for the support to introduce media outfits,  radio and television for the force and as well the Police to go technologically from the manual of doing things.

    “The Inspector General of Police dominated the whole day of our discussion today understanding what the issue of Police is into the system whereby in some other nations it is ten to one person but in Nigeria we have four hundred to one.

    “So,  they are having so many difficulties in funding which we are agreed that with the way things are going through the budgeting process, we cannot be able to fund police.

    “So, the Inspector General of Police made us to know that there is a kind of trust fund bill which is before the National Assembly, asked for our support and the members of the national assembly especially the House of Representatives.

    “In our own part,  we have put a committee in place. It is headed by the governors of Kwara, Imo, Delta, Ekiti, Bauchi and Sokoto to lead the committee so that they can be able to  interface with the committee of Police and take the matter before the Acting President for further action. It is important for our nation.

    “And as well there is the issue of kind of state police which is being discussed and we coming with so many options which we are expecting  the committee will do the and find safe way of policing in Nigeria .”

    Also speaking to journalists, the IGP said that security challenges in virtually all parts of the country was the dominant issue in the meeting, stressing that matters that border on security required a collective effort to confront.

    He said the essence of the meeting with the governors centered on “Our efforts to address some of the challenges in the Police unit. We had a fruitful discussion with them and obviously all of them are concerned about security in some parts of the country, virtually in all parts of the country.

    “They are ready to support the Police Force to see how we can address some of the challenges.”

    On the Acting President’s charge for reinforcements in the security apparatus of the country he said “Obviously it is a normal procedure, when we have challenges we normally reinforce.

    “Having insecurity all over the country requires the participation of every citizen of this country. We have to put our heads together to address all the security challenges.

    “The governments are doing well, they are trying to bring communities closer and I think it takes a long time but by and large, with the cooperation of community members and all the security agencies we have met to synergies,” he said

  • Man to IGP: Police infringing on my rights

    Man to IGP: Police infringing on my rights

    A businessman, Celestine Ufoegbuna, has urged Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to restrain his men from infringing on his rights over a financial dispute between him and his estranged business partner, Mr. Felix Nnaji.

    Ufoegbuna said he had been arrested, detained and tortured by some officers of the general investigation department of the Force Headquarters Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, despite his petition of last May 19, to the IG.

    In another petition of last June 22 written by his lawyer, Festus Keyamo (SAN), Ufoegbuna said the police also “unlawfully detained” his sister.

    According to him, the Ezendi Igbo, Eze Cyril Umeh Akuka, as well as an unnamed friend, who tried to mediate in the dispute, were also detained.

    He said the petition of May 10, “was approved by a signal dated May 19, 2017 and was assigned to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos State.”

    Ufoegbuna noted that in disregard of the FIB’s intervention, the officers from the general investigation “arrested detained and tortured” him over the matter.

    Keyamo, who wrote a similar petition last June 23 on Ufoegbuna’s behalf to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Abuja, said Ufoegbuna’s sister, is still in detention.

    He said: “Our client was arrested alongside Eze Cyril Umeh Akuka (Ezendi Igbo) who wanted to settle the matter between our client and the said Mr. Felix Nnaji since it is as result of a financial transaction.

    “One Mr. Marshal, a friend of our client and our client’s sister are all in detention over the same issue.

    “It is worrisome to note that the men and officers of general investigation have allowed themselves to be used to carry out this despicable act of intimidation and abuse of human right.”

    Keyamo added: “We must mention the fact that this dispute between our client and Mr. Felix Nnaji arose out of a financial/trade transaction. Our client and Mr. Felix Nnaji were business partners before the issues that led to our petition dated the 10th May, 2017.

    “We urge you sir to use your good offices to wade into this matter and direct the general investigation to hands off since the case file is still with the Federal Intelligence Bureau or as your most experienced office may direct.”

     

  • ‘Why criminal cases are poorly investigated’

    ‘Why criminal cases are poorly investigated’

    Major stakeholders in criminal justice administration have identified poor funding as the reason why most criminal cases were poorly investigated by investigating agencies.

    President of the Court of Appeal, Justic Zainab Bulkachuwa, Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye and Law Professor, Yemi Askinseye-George (SAN), argued that without adequate funding it was impossible to expect success in criminal investigation and prosecution.

    They spoke at a training session for officers of the Nigerian Police on the theme: “Towards Effective Implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015,” organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS), headed by Prof. Akinseye-George.

    About 350 policemen participated in the training.

    Represented by a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Appeal Court President noted that the quality of investigation often determines the outcome of any criminal case in court.

    Justie Bulkachuwa said: “Unless the pre-trial process is fair and transparent, the end, which is the trial, will fail. Investigation is the foundation of what is going to happen in future, that is the trial.

    “We must spend more on police and more on investigation. There is still a huge problem with investigation. Investigation does not mean detaining a suspect for long before taking his statement.

    “It does not require just taking the suspect’s confessional statement. All these must happen before the arrest. You have to have funds in order to deal with the facts. Investigation requires logistics. It requires funding.

    “It requires you to provide vehicles and stationery to take the statement. To be able to arrest they need vehicle and they need stationery to be able to take the statements of suspects.

    “Lack of funding for investigation will make police officer to sit back in the office and compile the file only the extent that he can.

    “You need the moral will to do what is right. If you do not have the moral will you cannot effectively enforce the law. What is your moral standard and professional ethics?

    “If you do not have the moral will you cannot effectively enforce the law by arresting a suspect or in taking his statement.”

    Ibrahim, who declared the event open, said he was committed to the concept of “policing with integrity,” with emphasis on continuous training for members of the police force.

    The IGP assured the gathering that he would not relent in ridding the force of bad eggs.

    He said the dedicated and upright ones will be rewarded.

    Owasanoye contended that without adequate funding, the country would not record success in crime fighting.

     

  • Police ordered to arraign detained suspect in court

    Police ordered to arraign detained suspect in court

    The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to charge to court one Mohammed Shuaibu who has been in police detention since 2012.

    Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order while ruling on an application filed on behalf of Shuaibu by his counsel, Mr. A.O Emmanuel.

    Justice Mohammed held that the IGP, who is the respondent in the matter, could not justify the continuous detention of Shuaibu.

    “I hereby make orders directing the respondent to release the applicant.

    “If the respondent has a case against him, he should be arraigned in a court of competent jurisdiction within three weeks of service of this order,” the judge said.

    Justice Mohammed, in his ruling, recalled that Shuaibu was arrested by the army in Kaduna in 2012 and transferred to the police over allegations of possessing a stolen vehicle.

    He noted that Shuaibu had been in detention since then without being charged to court.

    This, he said, was a breach of his fundamental rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, which frowned at unlawful detention.

    NAN

  • Evans sues IGP over failure to arraign him

    Evans sues IGP over failure to arraign him

    Suspected kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a. Evans, has sued the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, at the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged violation of his fundamental rights.

    He is praying the court to compel the police to charge him rather than detaining him indefinitely.

    In a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on his behalf by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, the suspected kidnapper said his continued detention without trial was illegal.

    He is praying for order directing the respondents to immediately charge him to court if there is any case against him in accordance with Sections 35 (1) (c) (3) (4) (5) (a) (b) and 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The Nigeria Police Force, Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the Lagos State Police Command are the other respondents.

    Alternatively, Evans is seeking an order compelling the respondents to immediately release him unconditionally.

    Evans is contending that his continued detention since June 10 without charge amounts to an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

    He argued that the respondents ought to have charged him to court in line with Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution.

    In a 27-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by Evan’s father, Stephen Onwuamadike, it was averred that the applicant has been subjected to media trial without any court’s order.

    The father said the media trial and news orchestrated by the respondents have continued to generate reactions in both print and electronic media without his son being afforded fair hearing and trial before a court of law.

    The deponent also averred that since his son’s arrest, all his family members have been denied access to him while media practitioners have been granted unfettered access to him.

    The matter has not been assigned to any judge and no date has been fixed for the hearing.

  • VIP Police to be withdrawn nationwide – IG

    VIP Police to be withdrawn nationwide – IG

    The Police on Friday said it would withdraw personnel of its mobile formation attached to important personalities in the country back to the barrack.

    Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, announced this in an interactive session with a group of civil society organisations under the auspices of “The Situation Room’’ in Abuja.

    He said that the measure was intended to bring the police closer to Nigerians.

    Idris said that the force had created additional mobile police squadron in states to enhance police operations, adding that Nigerians would now have more Special Protection Units (SPUs) in the commands in the zones.

    “We will withdraw all mobile police back to barracks to concentrate on dealing with serious law and order situation.

    “It means that we are stopping deployment of mobile police from protecting VIPs in the country because that is not where they should serve.

    “This is to allow us have enough men on the ground to deal especially with the issues of kidnapping.

    IGP, Ibrahim Idris

    “We are creating new SPUs in each command; so, virtually all commands will have them, and with the support of the state governments, most of them would be deployed specially to states.’’

    Idris said that the decision was basically to stem the cases of incessant kidnapping, adding that it had become a challenge that the force received hundreds of cases daily.

    He called for the establishment of special courts to address the cases of kidnapping.

    According to him, the public feel that kidnapers are not being prosecuted enough so there is need to seek strict measure to punish them.

    The IGP said that with the creation of special task force squadron on terrorism, a lot of kidnappers had been arrested and that the force had 2, 000 suspected kidnappers across the country.

    He reiterated the force’s commitment to apprehending the notorious and wanted kidnapper from Benue commonly called “Ghana’’, saying that his days were numbered.

    He thanked Nigerians for their support and called for more collaboration to curb crime “because it will take a collaborative effort to win against crime in the country’’.

    On his part, Convener of the Situation Room,

    called for the prosecution of kidnappers to serve as deterrent to others.

    Nwankwo stressed the need for protection of lives and property in the country, adding that ‘kidnapping is a serious national issue that needs to be tackled urgently.’’

  • IGP seeks support for passage of Police Trust Fund Bill

    IGP seeks support for passage of Police Trust Fund Bill

     

    …To promote 30 policemen in FCT to next rank

     

     

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris has called for support from stakeholders and members of the public in the passage of the Police Trust Fund bill.

    There would be a public hearing of the bill on the 11th of July for the bill that is before the National Assembly.

    The IGP also announced his intention to promote 30 police personnel within the FCT for their outstanding performance and dedication.

    Idris also explained that the promotion is a show of appreciation for their dedication since he assumed office in the last one year as the 19th indigenous IGP.

    He disclosed this Friday when he visited the Divisional Police Headquarters in Abuja.

    According to him: “Police Trust Fund bill is before the National Assembly and there would be a public hearing by 11th July. The truth is, police needs funding to buy vehicles, fuel, equipment and to give allowances to our men and I think everybody needs to support the police so that the bill can be passed on time.

    “If the bill is passed, police officers across the federation would be more effective in the discharge of their duties”, he said.

    On the promotion, the Police Chief said: “I want to appreciate our men in the FCT because they have shown rare dedication in the last one year that I have been in office.

    “I want to request that the CP makes some recommendations so that they can be promoted to the next rank. They have made Abuja safe for all of us and we can only show little appreciation for that feat.

    “For doing a good job of providing security for FCT residents, 10 Inspectors would be promoted to their next rank and 20 other Rank and File would also be promoted to the rank.”

    The IGP while charging other officers and men to be professional and disciplined in the discharge of their duties added that they should shun intimidation and harassment of innocent Nigerians.

    He said: “We are meant to protect and serve; we are to protect and serve them and not intimidate them. This is the seat of government, we have major democratic structures here; the Presidency, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and other very sensitive national organs. So please take your job seriously and be very professional”.

     

  • Cooperation among West Africa police ensured Evans’ arrest – Idris

    Cooperation among West Africa police ensured Evans’ arrest – Idris

    The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, has attributed the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper popularly known as Evans, to information sharing and intelligence cooperation among police services in West Africa.

    “Information sharing is crucial to tackling the menace of trans-border crimes in West Africa; it is through such exchange that we were able to nab a Ghanaian/Nigerian kidnapper two weeks ago, after evading arrest for many years,” Idris said on Wednesday.

    Idris spoke in Accra, Ghana in a paper titled: “The role of Nigeria Police in national security and its contributions in West Africa”, delivered at an ongoing West Africa international security conference.

    The paper was sent, via email, to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia.

    “For several years, Evans terrorised Nigerians and nationals of many countries across West Africa. Efforts to apprehend him did not yield the desired results until we spread our search net wider”, he said.

    The police chief, who solicited closer ties among security agencies in the sub-region, emphasised the need to improve the method of monitoring and surveillance, particularly among border and coastal police units.

    Idris called for improved communication capabilities among intelligence gathering outfits in West Africa, and called for mutual support to plug loopholes usually exploited by criminals.

    He said that the Nigeria Police Force had 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5303 divisions, adding that the force had consistently contributed to stability and peace in ECOWAS nations and under UN mandates.

    “The Nigeria Police Force trained 250 Liberian Police personnel in 2005 and has consistently offered training slots to police officers from Gambia and Sierra Leone at the Police Staff College, Jos and the Police Academy, Wudil.

    “We also trained 100 police officers from the Republic of Niger on mobile police combat in 1998. At the end of the training, Nigeria donated trucks, riot equipment and tear smoke to the Nigerien government,” he said.

    Idris said that the Nigeria Police Force also helped to stabilise Guinea Bissau in 2012, when the military intervened in its leadership and truncated democracy.

    “Our police personnel remained there until democracy was restored in 2014,” he stated.

    The IGP expressed Nigeria’s readiness to consistently cooperate with police formations in other countries to track down criminals, pointing out that such mutual cooperation had become even more necessary as technology had reduced the world to a small village.

  • Police arrest six suspected armed robbers in Badagry, recover arms

    Police arrest six suspected armed robbers in Badagry, recover arms

    A gang of suspected armed robbers that disposed two officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NSC) of the cars, valuables at Badagry in January have been arrested.

    The suspects were arrested at the Mowo area of Badagry around 1am on Tuesday in a joint operation carried out by operatives of the Inspector General of Police’ (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Sqaud (FSARS), Ikeja.Tunji Adesanya, 33, Rasaq Lawal, 22, Hammed Lawal, 24, Olanrewaju Wasiu, 29, Kenneth Ohmai, 39 and Ibrahim Aliu, 26, the police said, confessed to have robbed Garba Usman and Akubo Ibrahim, on January 1, and January 5 of their Toyota Corrolla, 2006 model and Lexus 350 Sports Utility Vehicle  (SUV) respectively.

     

    Irked by the attack on the officials and several armed robbery on motorists in that axis, the IGP Ibrahim Idris was said to have deployed the teams to fish out the perpetrators.

    After months of tracking the suspects, the police, it was gathered apprehended Adesanya, a native of Odojomo, Ondo State, and Lawal, from Oyo State, who were recently freed from Agodi Prison, Ibadan.They were said to have led detectives to the other suspects, including Wasiu, said to be a notorious cultist.

    It was gathered that an AK47 rifle, a locally made single barrel pistol, locally made double barrel pistol, four AK47 rifle magasines, 84 live ammunition, a Beretta pistol magasine with 10 rounds of live 9mm ammunition were recovered from them.

    According to the police, efforts were on to apprehend other members of the gang.

     

  • Nobody can issue a quit notice to anyone – Police

    Nobody can issue a quit notice to anyone – Police

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the Commissioner of Police (CP) in Kaduna State to investigate and arrest members of the Coalition of Northern Youths for issuing an ultimatum to South Easterners living in the North.

    The Coalition of Northern Youths on June 6, at a news conference in Kaduna, gave a three-month ultimatum to South Easterners living in the North to leave.

    It had also ordered Northerners living in the South-Eastern part of the country to return to the North.

    The group attributed the ultimatum to the constant agitation by the Igbo ethnic group to have their own independent country.

    Also, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had ordered the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the signatories to the communique issued at the end of the coalition of a northern youth news conference.

    The I-G gave the order at a meeting with Commissioners of Police and other high ranking officers on Thursday in Abuja.

    He warned that no individual or group of persons had the right to ask any individual to leave his or her place of residence in any part of the country.

    He ordered other state commissioners of police in the North and Assistant Inspectors – General of Police in the various zonal commands to do same.

    He said: “as Commissioners of Police and Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, we have the responsibility to stop this group of persons from carrying out their threats.

    “I want us to be at alert to ensure that such persons or group were stopped at all cost from carrying out their threats.

    “No individual has the authority to stop anybody from looking for his daily bread.

    He explained that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to live in any part of the country he or she chooses.

    On abuse of siren and spy number plate by unauthorised persons, Idris said that a task force would be constituted across the country to check the ugly situation.

    He noted that some individuals used them to commit crimes in the society, adding that synergy between the force and other security agencies was critical to its operations.

    “We are going to check the excesses of these individuals who use the siren and spy number plate,” he said.

    The police boss urged the various commands to beef up security in their formations as security challenges were taking different dimensions.

    He said the force had started the establishment of some operational units in the commands across the country to tackle emerging security challenges.

    He added that “we are facing new security challenges in the country and we have to respond to it.

    “We are trying to enhance our capacity with the establishment of these units, taking into consideration the new security challenges in the country.”

    He explained that every commissioner of police was in charge of units in his or her
    command, weather they were from the Force headquarters.

    Idris urged state governors to support the force by establishing these units for an effective response to security threats across the country.