Boko Haram: Our policemen are mercenaries –Tsav

Posted by admin Headlines, Nigerian Police Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Alhaji Abubakar Tsav

A retired Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, has said that most of the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force are mercenaries, who are only out to make money.

He noted that in doing so, such officers had no respect for the ethics of the highly-respectable profession.

Tsav, however, said this did not take away the fact that a few brilliant officers and men were still in service doing their best to fight crime.

The ex-police chief said this in a telephone interview with SATURDAY PUNCH in Abuja on Friday.

Tsav, whose specialty was intelligence, received several commendations from the Inspector-General of Police during his active days in service.

He described the escape from custody of Mallam Kabir Sokoto, the prime suspect in the Madalla Christmas Day bombing, as not only a national embarrassment, but an episode that casts doubts on the loyalty and integrity of the force.

He said, “While I concede that there are excellent, loyal, dedicated and experienced officers and men in the service, the majority are mercenaries out there to make money and don’t care about the ethics of their profession.

“What has worsened the situation of the police is the lack of supervision by senior officers, indiscipline, disloyalty, corruption and conspiracy of silence occasioned by the politicisation, regionalisation and ‘religionalisation’ of the police.”

Tsav said although the police were saddled with the responsibility of crime prevention, detection, investigation and general control, it was everybody’s business because they always needed public support to succeed.

He noted that the suspended Commissioner of Police, Zakari Biu, had experienced a lot of hurdles in the police.

He, however, said, “I doubt if he’ll willingly be part of a conspiracy to aid the escape of this prime suspect.

“I am not holding brief for him, but I believe he must have been let down.

“Perhaps he is over-familiar with the junior rank in an unholy alliance as most senior officers do.”

He described the situation as “clumsy and stinking.”

The Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, had queried the IG, Hafiz Ringim and ordered the suspension and arrest of Biu for the escape of the high-profile suspect from custody.

-Punchwp_posts