The Niger Delta Congress has warned President Muhammadu Buhari against side-stepping the South-South in the next inspector-general of police’s appointment.

The group believed Moses Jitoboh should have been the next police chief after Mohammed Adamu’s tenure ended.

It claimed that Mr. Buhari extended Adamu’s tenure by three months to prevent Mr. Jitoboh from occupying the office.

The NDC acting spokesperson, Adokiye Oyagiri, in a statement on Monday said the reason given by the Police Affairs Minister, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, was tricky, considering that Mr. Adamu was due for retirement on February 1.

“It is also a publicly known fact that the next most senior and most experienced officer in line to assume the office of the IG of Police is Moses Jitoboh, a Niger Deltan from Bayelsa State. Recently, Mr. Jitoboh was transferred to the Research and Development department of the force, which we believe is a prelude to effecting this plan,” the group said.

Peoples Gazette on December 7, 2020, exclusively uncovered a deep-laid plot to suddenly promote Moses Jitoboh, an assistant police inspector-general from Bayelsa, to a higher rank of deputy inspector-general, despite having nine service years remaining and currently not the most-senior AIG from the South-South. 

The Gazette reported that although Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 positioned Mr. Jitoboh as the only qualified officer to become the next police chief out of all the 24 AIGs currently in the Nigeria Police Force, the presidency was bent on truncating his emergence while clearing a dubious path for another northerner to take over from Adamu.

Full Press Release

NDC STATEMENT ON THE TENURE EXTENSION OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, MOHAMMED ADAMU

Our Ref: NDC/PS/002/2021

Monday February 8, 2021 

The President Buhari administration’s extension of the tenure of the Inspector General of Police by 3 months has come to the attention of the Niger Delta Congress.

The reason given by the Minister for Police Affairs, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, is to enable the President take his time to nominate the right person to fill the position of Inspector General of Police.

The Niger Delta Congress finds this awkward, considering that the retirement of the current IG by February 1 has been known to the general public from as early as the third quarter of 2020. It is also a publicly known fact that the next most senior and most experienced officer in line to assume the office of the IG of Police is Moses Jitoboh, a Niger Deltan from Bayelsa State.

The Niger Delta Congress, prior to now, has come across plans to ensure Jitoboh is not appointed IG because of his Christian faith and his being from Southern Nigeria. The NDC raised an alarm cautioning against this, despite which actions have been set in motion to prevent Moses Jitoboh from assuming said office.

Recently, Mr. Jitoboh was transferred to the Research and Development department of the force, which we believe is a prelude to effecting this plan.

The Niger Delta Congress calls on the President to not continue on this path of brazenly disenfranchising qualified Southerners in favour of those from his part of the country, and those with whom he shares the same religion.

The Niger Delta Congress and the people of the region are paying keen attention to the issue surrounding the appointment of a new Chief of Police.

We would consequently like to state that any move to disenfranchise Moses Jitoboh, or Southern Nigeria in general, as has been done so audaciously in recent times, will be seen and translated to mean that the Niger Delta region is no longer needed as a part of the Nigerian federation, and the actions and stance of the region going forward will be guided by this.

STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE NDC:

Adokiye Oyagiri

(Acting Spokesperson)