There is palpable tension in some Police formations in some states of the federation over an alleged inability of the Police authorities to promote officers who were allegedly due for promotion since last year.
Some general duty Policemen in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, affected by the said delay in promotion are accusing the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, of selective promotion.
Investigations indicated that names of many of those who were promoted in 2016 and were due for another promotion last year were omitted in the November 19, 2020 promotion exercise without any explanation from the Force Headquarters.
In a chat with our reporter, Spokesman for the aggrieved officers, who preferred to remain anonymous over fears of reprisals and punishment from his superiors, alleged that since the aggrieved officers had nothing incriminatory in their files, and were not passing through any discipline measure, it was obvious the IGP was deliberately refusing to give them what rightly belongs to them.
He said, “We were promoted last in 2016 and were due for another promotion to the rank of Inspector last year. On November 19, 2020, the Police authorities released names of those who were promoted and surprisingly our names were not included for reasons we are not told till date.
“There is no disciplinary issue against us. We have complained officially to the authorities and still nothing has been done. The painful thing is that our Juniors have been promoted ahead of us and we are still waiting.
“Nobody has told us anything, no communication, nothing. As the IGP has not told us why we are not promoted, it shows his action is deliberate. People are aggrieved, people are very worried. This has already affected our output.
“At times, one could be willing to put in his best and work but each time his mind wanders to such treatment, it affects him psychologically, affects patriotism, morale, mood, appetite to food and general performance. To be frank, we cannot even sleep at night as our minds continually wander about to ascertain reasons for such treatment, it is traumatic.
“If you had done something wrong and this type of treatment is meted out, you’ll understand but in this case nobody has told us what our crimes were. There is already a psychological issue, you cannot pretend that all is well when it is not. Communication has reduced, interaction has reduced.”
But in a telephone chat with Zone 6 Police Public Relation Officer, DSP Nelson Ukpabi, the Police said the allegation was untrue.
Zone 6 Police command oversees Police operations in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
DSP Ukpabi said, “I’m not aware of any officer of the 2016 batch who has not been promoted. They were all captured and there is nobody left. We don’t have any of them in my zone. As we speak, the last promotion has captured those who were expecting theirs. Everybody knows his own time.
“As we speak, it is our batch, which was promoted in 2018, that is awaiting promotion. We have completed our three years and definitely between now and the third quarter of this year, we should have our own, I don’t think there is any other person left.
“But let me also explain that in some cases, special promotion could come. Some persons could benefit from it but one cannot complain over this because the number is always negligible and this does not call for somebody being aggrieved at all.”
