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By Godwin Etakibuebu
Ibrahim Kpotum Idris, the outgoing Inspector General of Police [IGP], shall not be forgotten in a hurry as one of the weirdest, if not the most, IGP in the annals of Nigeria’s history.
He made history, while he presided over the affairs of the Nigeria Police Force, albeit in notoriety. Historical verdict on his tenure may not be too favourable on him except in one and only one quarter and that will be the domain of the authority that appointed him as IGP – President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yet the man served his tenure to the full – courtesy of the man that appointed him also, despite the fact that the former defied and disdained the latter while his tenure lasted.
This shall remain a story [how the IGP defied his master] to be told another day in full as we may just be mentioning one or two things about it today.
But first, we need to understand those elements that made the retiring Inspector General of Police as thick, strong and defiling as he was in office. Understanding this is important because it will help us to know his source of power.
Yet, this must not be seen as odyssey of the man because I am not having enough historical background to re-enact the man’s profile. That can only be done in a thoroughly prepared mission into voyage of discovering in some years to come.
Ibrahim Idris, born on January 15, 1959 [from Kutigi, Lavun in Niger State] was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force in 1984, after graduating from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture in addition to a Law degree he later obtained from the University of Maiduguri.
President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him the 16th Inspector General of Police on March 21, 2016, to take over from the Edo State born Solomon Arase.
His greater professional exploits also started in Kano where he was the Commissioner of Police in that State during the 2015 general election; the election where Muhammadu Buhari was elected President of the Federal Republic.
His tenure in Kano looked like the catalyst that played the man up faster in his Police career.
Immediately after the election; where it was reported that the State [Kano] delivered one of the highest votes for the All Progressives Congress and its flag bearer – Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Idris was promoted Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations at the Force Headquarters.
He was in Kano State during the election of 2015, as a commissioner of Police and within the spate of one year, he had become Assistant Inspector General of Police and within the same spate of that one year he was appointed Inspector General of Police.
And since he was appointed to the rank of Inspector General of Police from the rank of the most junior AIGs in the country then, his appointment brought automatic end to the career of all the senior AIGs and about seven Deputy Inspector General of Police [DIG]. That was the sad ladder he climbed to success – courtesy of President Muhammadu Buhari.
There must be something too good about his professional performances in Kano State that became the catalyst which accelerated his movement to the top of his career as Inspector General of Police. Whatever that thing was cannot form part of today’s discussion – posterity may discuss that after most of us must have exited, maybe.
Suffice to say that the man operated the office of the Inspector General of Police in a manner that was daily loaded with controversies. It was “one day one trouble” sort of film cast.
He remained the only IGP, till date, that operated above the law of the land. He disregarded the Nigerian National Assembly with pathological disdain, mostly the Upper Chamber of the Senate.
Ibrahim Idris had no respect for National Institutions while his tenure lasted, not even the office of the President that appointed him. I am not saying this without authority, as the Bench and the Bar would say in the court of law.
In an open air lamentation during a meeting with some stakeholders in Government House, Markudi; the Benue State Capital, on Monday March 14, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari cried out loudly that “I never knew that the IGP disobeyed my orders after l sent him to Benue.”
The President went on to tell a bewildered world that he “ordered the IGP relocate to Benue on January 9, 2018, and remain there to restore law and order and prevent further loss of lives and properties but I did not know that he disobeyed my order by spending only one night here.”
The unfortunate thing of that presidential confession was the fact that the President, who was expected by those that listened to him in Makurdi, to take action against his appointed IGP on his return to Abuja did nothing or say nothing until the man retired so gloriously from service today.
Do we need more evidences of weirdness in defining the professional lifestyle of Idris as Inspector General of Police? Let me add one joker of the regularity in peculiar messes while in office.
Senator Isah Hamma Misau, representing the Bauchi Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, made series of allegation bordering on financial impropriety and moral rectitude with some female police officers on the floor of the Senate against the IGP. There is no need of narrating how the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice went to court, brought judicial battle against the respected Senator Misau in defense of the “accussed” IGP as this also, shall wait for another day and at a different forum.
In defense of himself, the embattled [he never knew he was in mess at all times as he operated above the law] IGP asked a question. “Can anybody show it to me from the Constitution or the Police Act where it is stated that the Inspector General of Police cannot have affairs with a female Police officer?”This is the weirdness lifestyle of the outgone Inspector General of Police; the most [un]respected Ibrahim Kpotum Idris.
Hoping he is not the one that recommended his successor to President Muhammadu Buhari for appointment, l wish this most controversial and weird Inspector General of Police a befitting but most disturbing retirement.
Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
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