By Kingston Obung
Calabar
Bribery scandal has trailed the recent promotion of Senior Officers by the Police Service Commission on the recommendation of the outgoing Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase.
Unconfirmed reports from police sources indicated that the police wireless message dated June 17, 2016 from the Force Headquarters in Abuja with reference No SH:4690/FS/FHQ/ABJ/V.2/ 309, signed by the Force Secretary, AIG Patrick Dey Dorkumor, showed that the promotion was allegedly done to favour some junior officers ahead of their seniors who merited the exercise.
Besides, the staff list of the senior officers from the IGP to the CSP, obtained by our reporter from one of the police headquarters, indicated that over 429 senior officers of the rank of Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) are currently in the service.
Out of this 429, twenty of them had been promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) while four, out of another 14 who went for promotion course were also judiciously promoted.
However, our reporter reliably gathered that what was generating bad blood among the 36 2006 and 2008 batches of those promoted as Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) who had already gone for DCP course and waiting for the approval of the Police Service Commission on the recommendation of the IGP, was that some junior ACPs (10 of them) were promoted ahead of their seniors who were due also for promotion.
Some of the aggrieved affected officers who did not want their names on print accused the outgoing IGP Arase and some senior members of the Police Service Commission of promoting illegality and partiality.
Our source, who preferred anonymity, said: “Look at the application number; AP22436, AP22528, AP36575, AP36036, they all merit the promotion of DCP without jumping seniority! But from AP30427, Joseph O. Egbunke who works in the Budget Office till the last person AP34267, David Igbodo, on the DCP promotion list which takes effect from 1st of June, 2016, they did not follow the due process and we demand that the “illegal promotions” be reversed and those who are on merit be promoted.
“For example, Egbunke was No. 14 in the 2008 promotion list to ACP and he jumped 16 of his seniors without either query or any other unblemished records to be promoted to the DCP alongside nine others who were illegally approved for the promotion by the Police Service Commission.
“Is it because he works in the budget office that covers-up frauds for the IGP, and has enough money to give to the Police service Commission Members?
“This promotion of the junior (ACP) officers ahead of their seniors (ACP), we were reliably told, was not agreed upon by all the member of the Police Service Commission (PSC).
“We got it from a reliable source that the promotion was given to the highest bidder who paid as much as between N1 million and N2 million.
“The police staff list showing seniority of officers will show it clearly that senior officers were skipped for their junior.
Our correspondent also gathered that the alleged arbitrary promotions were not limited to the ACP/ DCP ranks but also involved CSP to ACP and some other lower ranks.
