Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said that the appointment of a substantive Inspector General of Police is not determined by ethnicity.
Shehu said this while responding to calls from some quarters that the new police chief should come from the South East region.
Adamu Mohammed who is the current Inspector General of Police retires from the office today February 1.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV today February 1, Garba said
The language that is being used is that there should be an Igbo service chief and this is a country with more than 250 ethnic groups.
If you are going to appoint a service chief from every ethnic group in this country, you are going to have more than 250 Inspector General of Police, 250 Chief of Army Staff, 250 Chief of Naval Staff. Things are not going to work like that.
If we say that we are going to use ethnicity or religion as the basis, then, we have lost it. This is about law and order and not about ethnic identity.
Look at what happened with the service chiefs appointed now – two from the South, two from the North. If you are talking about religion, two Muslims, two Christians
Responding to a question regarding the President’s decision on the IGP whose tenure ends today, Shehu said
“I haven’t spoken with the President but if I read his mind correctly, the President would rather have an Inspector General of Police who would make you and I safer, who would protect lives and property than one who is more pronounced by his tribal marks.”
