The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Solomon Arase

  • Senate summons IGP over kidnapping, others

    The Senate on Thursday invited the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, over the increasing cases of kidnapping and hostage taking in the country.

    The upper chamber specifically invited the IGP to brief it on plans by police to finding lasting solution to the kidnapping and hostage taking in parts of the country.

    This followed the adoption of a motion on “The unfortunate recurrence of kidnapping and hostage taking in Nigeria- a national wake up call.”

    Apart from inviting Arase, the Senate condemned kidnapping in its entirety and commiserated with families of those who have lost their loved ones to kidnappers.

    The lawmakers urged traditional institutions, religious authorities and all Nigerians to be more vigilant and to participate more actively in the security of the country.

    It resolved to make frantic efforts at reviewing the extant laws on kidnapping with a view to imposing stiffer penalties on the crime.

    The Senate also resolved to invite the Ministers of Labour and and Productivity and National Planning, National Directorate of Employment and other relevant government agencies to brief it on deliberate and actionable plan of government in reducing the current employment deficit in the country.

    The motion by Senator Andy Uba (Anambra South) was unanimously supported by Senators.

    Uba in his lead debate noted ‘with displeasure” the seeming prevalence of kidnapping in the country.

  • SARS to adopt less lethal weapon system

    The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has said the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) will soon adopt less lethal weapons such as stun guns for its operations.

    Arase disclosed this at the‎ launching of Nigeria Police Force Complaint Response Unit‎ (CRU) on Friday.

    He also relaunched SARS with a new identity at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

    The IGP‎ said the Taser otherwise known as stun guns would reduce fatalities associated with lethal weapons.

    According to him, the launch also became important considering unprofessional conducts and consistent abuse of the public especially during operations.

    He said these complaints had been a thing of concern to previous leaderships of the Force.

    “This is because aside from being a major source of public disdain for the force, these negatives also constitute sources of litigation and attendant huge garnishee orders hanging on the lean budgetary profile of the force.

    “Most importantly, it raises questions as to why a police force constitutionally emplaced and armed to protect lives and property of the citizens would evolve to one that becomes uncivil to the same citizens by their actions or inactions or dress menacingly to build a wedge between them and the citizens,” Arase said.

  • Community Policing: IGP seeks support of traditional institution

    Community Policing: IGP seeks support of traditional institution

    The Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase says the police cannot make meaningful headway in community policing without working closely with the traditional institution.

    He said the police needed the cooperation and support ‎of the traditional institution to ensure the success of community policing which he described as the pivot of ensuring security of lives and property of citizens across the world.

    ‎Arase, who made the remark Wednesday in Sokoto at an all stakeholders’ interactive session held at the Sokoto police Officers Mess, said it was time to depart from conventional policing to a more effective, efficient and proactive community policing as is obtained across the globe.

    “We are ready to give Nigerians the best police force that has respect and confidence in the citizens by ensuring peace and security ‎of lives and property.

    “I can assure you that the President‎ is committed to a better and effective policing nationwide. And I will like to state that Nigerians should be patient on the approval to recruit more police because the President want to ensure a better atmosphere for those to be trained and equipped for the job,” he said.

    The interactive session which drew attendance from across, groups, associations, PCRC, unions, traditional rulers‎ also raised issues on welfare, attitude, and general conduct of the police especially at check points and on patrol duties.

    According to the IGP” the traditional institution is the hub ‎in community policing, explaining that “we need their advice to work and ensure desirable results,” he said.

    Arase who is on tour of commands, nation-wide also noted that certain matters cannot be resolved or addressed without the support of the traditional institution‎, stressing that “no society can effectively police it’s community without partnering with the traditional institution.‎”

    He maintained that “even if you have 1000 policemen in a community, they cannot be as effective as possible or expected without the cooperation of the traditional institution.”

    “They have to rely on the traditional institution‎ to be able to perform‎ in view of the fact that they are the custodians of the culture, values, norms and tradition as well as the terrains,” he pointed out.

    He directed all Divisional Police Officers and other top officers to focus on period monthly meetings with communities in their respective areas of operations, “this will assist in the maintenance of peace and security as well effective community policing,” he added.

  • Police arrest two suspected Abuja bombers

    Police arrest two suspected Abuja bombers

    … Another five nabbed in connection with Falae’s abduction

    The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, on Tuesday said two people have been arrested in connection with the twin blasts that rocked Abuja two weeks ago.

    The suspects who are from Okene area of Kogi State are – Abdulazeez Muhazab (27) and Isiaka Salihu (25).

    Arase also confirmed that five more people who allegedly took part in the abduction of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, have been arrested by the police.

    The IGP stated these at a meeting with senior officers of the Force on Tuesday.

    The Department of State Service (DSS) had on Monday paraded two members of the gang that abducted the former Finance minister.

    Speaking on the Abuja blasts, the IGP said: “I am elated to confirm that the police has arrested two terror elements that undertook the fatal operation.”
    According to him, police recovered 12 already prepared and primed Home Made Explosives that was concealed in 12 Fayrouz soft drinks cans, 28 pieces of Electric Detonators and huge quantities of IED-making materials.

    He added that the suspected abductors of Chief Falae were apprehended in Ondo, Ekiti and Niger States.

  • Police highlight roles in Falae’s rescue

    Police highlight roles in Falae’s rescue

    … To probe ransom payment

    The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has maintained that police operation put pressure on kidnappers of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, and also led to his rescue.

    The police in a rejoinder captioned: “Re: Ransom Payment by the Family of Chief Olu Falae,” also queried the payment of ransom to the kidnappers by Falae’s family.

    The Force which claimed that it was not privy to the payment of ransom noted that it does not encourage the payment of ransom to kidnappers or other criminals.

    The police, however, said it will investigate the ransom payment and determine how the money was paid.

    The rejoinder highlighted some of the roles played by the police in Falae’s rescue.

    “Our approach was a professional response to what we saw as a crime against a respected national personality known to embrace peace and who has dedicated most of his valuable life to selfless service of our nation.

    “The police under the leadership of the IGP deployed our unique intelligence and operational capabilities including police helicopters for aerial surveillance. Our intelligence and operational teams comprising Intelligence Response Team (a Special Anti-Kidnapping Unit) took part in the exercise. Conventional and mobile policemen were deployed for rescue operation.

    “They followed the path from the point of kidnapping at his farm at Ilado, along Igbatoro road in Akure, Ondo State and trailed the hoodlums through bushes to Owo in Ondo State. In the process, we were able to identify the major actors and currently high level police activities are being emplaced to apprehend and bring them to justice.”

  • If Arase won’t do something about the police…

    If Arase won’t do something about the police…

    Nigeria is daily inundated with stories of police malfeasance, of so-called accidental discharge, extrajudicial murder, trigger-happy shootings and attendant cover-ups, torture, human rights abuse, and on top of these, ineffective policing. The police, it is clear, are a poorly equipped and poorly incentivised federal establishment. Indeed if states, which exercise little or no control over the security organisation, were not subsidising the operations of the police, it would in all likelihood have collapsed. But poor funding does not justify a large part of police malfeasance. Within the constraints of their operations, it is still possible to run a fairly humanised and fairly responsive police. They may not respond promptly to crime emergencies such as kidnapping and armed robbery because of infrastructural shortcomings, but they can at least control what happens at their stations where distressed citizens present their challenges.

    There are three ways to handle the declining efficiency and poor image of the police. First, the federal government must declare an emergency in policing to stem the infrastructural decay and operational and attitudinal rot in the Police Force. The government cannot pretend not to appreciate the abysmal level to which the police have sunk. The police need to be restructured, adequately funded and properly equipped —  just as efforts are being made to retrain and equip the military — and a firm and organised system of accountability must be instituted. It is not enough for offending policemen to shoot and kill indiscriminately, sometimes for as little as N100, and be dismissed and prosecuted. What of the dead, and the many who may yet die if the malady is not checked? Have dismissal and prosecution of errant policemen deterred other officers from committing casual murder in the name of the state? Clearly the problem is more fundamental than the pirouette of malfeasance, dismissal and prosecution. Senior police officers must be made accountable for the behaviour of their men.

    Second, the police leadership must find innovative ways of running the law enforcement organisation and enforcing discipline, including reliving officers of their jobs if they cannot control their men, to prevent the kind of appalling behaviour and impunity now rampant in the Force. The federal government may be reluctant to impose innovation on the police. That is why the police have an Inspector-General. Mr Solomon Arase should sit down with his men and other brilliant and knowledgeable experts to fashion out a way of funding, reorienting and rebuilding the police. The present system is absolutely untenable. Mr Arase must of course understand that if the continuous bad press the police are receiving does not change, it makes his leadership equally untenable. But he must not resign himself to the present situation. Where others have failed, let him prove he can be a success. Despite the handicaps, let him be determined to leave a great and enduring legacy commensurate with his high educational attainments.

    Third, the most practical option — and sooner rather than later, the country will come round to this — is to decentralise the police away from federal to state control, and also rejig the revenue allocation formula to reflect the new reality until such a time that economic federalism will be instituted. The fact is that in the past few decades, both the police leadership and the federal government have appeared to lack the will and ingenuity to run the police. It is perhaps time the Buhari administration summoned the courage to join hands with the National Assembly to recast the police as a state institution. The federal government can no longer fund the institution, and obviously cannot even think for it. It is time others attempted a more imaginative approach. The country is already witnessing paralysis in the police. But paralysis is simply not feasible in the present circumstances of deteriorating security situation and police impunity.

  • Police awaits bench warrant to arrest Saraki

    Police awaits bench warrant to arrest Saraki

    The police on Friday said the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase would promptly effect the arrest of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, if it gets the bench warrant issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Friday.

    The Force Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Olabisi Kolawole, stated this in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday.

    “We are going to promptly arrest the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and produce him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Monday but the IGP is yet to get the directive.

    “Since it is a bench warrant issued by a competent court, the order will be carried out without delay. We don’t want to pre-empt anything,” Kolawole stated.

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal had on Friday, issued a bench warrant for Saraki’s arrest, for failing to appear in court in his ongoing trial for alleged false asset declaration.

  • Photo: Oshiomhole, Arase on the dance floor with wives

    Photo: Oshiomhole, Arase on the dance floor with wives

    overnor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife and Mr Solomon Arase, Inspector-General of Police and his wife dance at a reception organised by the Edo State Government for the Police I-G, on Friday
    overnor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife and Mr Solomon Arase, Inspector-General of Police and his wife dance at a reception organised by the Edo State Government for the Police I-G, on Friday
  • IGP bans use of commercial vehicles for patrol

    IGP bans use of commercial vehicles for patrol

    The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has directed that all police commands and formations should stop the use of commercial vehicles painted in states’ colours for operations and patrol duties.

    According to a statement issued in Abuja by the Force Spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole, the ban was due to public complaints and enormous negative consequences associated with the use.

    The directive was contained in a circular issued to all police formations and commands nationwide.

    “The directive was due to enormous negative consequences associated with such practices.”

    The IGP warned that flouting of the order by any police unit will attract severe sanctions.

     

     

  • IGP donates medical equipment to Edo IDPs

    IGP donates medical equipment to Edo IDPs

    Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has donated medical supplies and three tanks for storing water to Internally Displaced Persons at a camp in Uhogua village, Ovia North East Local Government.

    Out of the 900 Boko Haram victims that were brought to camp, 142 of them were returned to their families two weeks ago.

    Arase assured the IDPs who are mostly children that adequate security would be provided for them.

    Represented by Force Medical Officer, AIG Grace Okudo, Arase promised the IDPs that they would not lack anything.

    The police boss said his men would be on ground to meet the needs of the Boko Haram victims especially as it relates to their general well-being.

    According to him; “We will do our best for you. We know many diseases can be caused by water so we brought these Geepee tanks.

    “You will not miss anything. Our team from Asaba and Benin will be visiting to know your needs particularly as regards your health issues.  We will be coming always to see what we can do.”

    Founder of the International Christian Mission, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, thanked the police boss for his intervention.