Be Careful How You Treat Past IGs, Arase Warns Idris

The immediate past Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has advised his successor, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to avoid engaging in acts that could bring any past occupant of that office to public ridicule.

In a letter dated December 1, 2016, which he wrote to Idris, Arase pointed out that it was for this reason that while he was in office, he ensured that Force Order 295 was put in place to protect ex-IGs from being demeaned.

Arase, who retired as police IG in June, said it was in the spirit of this order that he desisted from ridiculing the last two IGs before him even though he knew that they each went away with 13 and nine police vehicles respectively when leaving office.

The former IGs, which Arase referred to, are Mohammed Abubakar, who retired in 2014 and Suleiman Abba, who was sacked in April last year by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Arase said this in his reply to the allegations by Idris that he (Arase) took away 24 police vehicles while leaving office in June as the IG.

The former IG had earlier dismissed his successors allegations that he left with two dozens of vehicles while leaving office, wondering what he would do with such number of vehicles.

Arase said rather than denigrate Abba, who he succeeded, he indeed initiated actions and bought a brand new bulletproof jeep for the sacked IG despite the fact that Abba’s administration left a debt of N28bn for him to contend with.

He urged Idris to put the integrity and honour of the Nigeria Police Force first in any action he might want to take so that the force would not be exposed to public ridicule.

Arase said, “I expect that former occupants of the office of the Inspector-General of Police should not be demeaned. This explains why Force Order 295 was emplaced by the force management under my leadership as acknowledged in your letter in reference.

“In spite of the emplacement of this order and despite the fact that my two immediate predecessors left office with 13 and nine vehicles of different makes and models respectively, I never pressurised either of them to return any of such vehicles neither did I engage in any act that was capable of bringing them to ridicule as being done to me of late by a force I dedicated my life to serving up to the highest level.

“Rather, it is on record that I went the extra mile to source for funds and initiated actions towards purchasing a brand new bulletproof jeep for my immediate predecessor, even after his retirement from service. This was done notwithstanding the fact that I inherited and had to manage a huge debt profile of about N28bn, which limited the financial base of the force at the time.”

Among the 13 vehicles, which Arase said Abubakar took away were a BMW (7 series) bulletproof car; and two Toyota Land Cruiser V8 bulletproof jeeps.

According to him, Abba also took away a Toyota Land Cruiser bulletproof jeep and a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado jeep along with seven other vehicles.

Arase said God had blessed him so much and he was contended to the point that he would willingly surrender “all my vehicular entitlements even as contained in the Revised Force Order 295 in the overriding interest of the force and in the sustenance of the legacy of comradeship between an incumbent IGP and his predecessor.”

He said he decided to delay in returning the vehicles, which Idris alleged he took away, as a form of protest against the “unfair, untidy and demeaning approach the matter was handled until now.”

Arase, however, said he harboured no animosity towards Idris and encouraged him to feel free to approach him for advice, just as his predecessors did to him.

Culled from Punch

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Over 4000 Workers Recruited By Jonathan May Lose Jobs

The jobs of 4,904 civil servants, who were recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commission in the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan,  are under threat as  the  Federal Character Commission has queried the exercise.

It was learnt on Monday that moves by the Federal Civil Service Commission to sack the workers had led to a crisis in the civil service.

No fewer than 247 of the affected workers had petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission over a plan by the FCSC to sack them, The Punch reports.

The Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Dr. Shettima Abba, had queried the Chairman of the FCSC, Mrs. Joan Ayo, for alleged violation of the principle of federal character in the employment of the civil servants in a letter dated May 3, 2016.

He said the recruitment,  which took place between 2013 and 2015,  was characterised by a flagrant abuse of the Federal Character principle.

Abba alleged that the recruitment was tilted in favour of the South-South geopolitical zone against other parts of the country.

He pointed out that the South-South got 33.6 per cent of those employed as against the 26.2 per cent allotted to applicants from the North-East, North-West and North-Central geopolitical zones.

He directed the civil service commission’s boss to ensure that the perceived inequality was addressed in the 2016 recruitment by the commission in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Character Commission.

Abba stated, “The Federal Character Commission has viewed and observed with concern the recruitment exercises undertaken by the Federal Civil Service between 2013 and 2015, which glaringly is lopsided and grossly abused the principle of Federal Character to which all institution have subscribed.

“The recruitment which recorded the engagement of about 4,904 workers, threw away all common sense and wisdom of national cohesion and integration by favouring some states to the detriment of others.

“We are worried that if this trend is allowed to continue, then some sections of the country may not only feel alienated but may feel insecure by the action of people in authority.

“It is inconceivable and a gross injustice for a geopolitical zone to be allocated 33.6 per cent of the total candidates recruited as against 26.2 per cent for three zones combined, North-East, North-West and North-Central.

 “We further request without prejudice that all processes must involve the Federal Character Commission for advice and strict adherence to the principle of federal character as contained in our circular on guidelines and procedure for recruitment.”

But the spokesperson for the FCSC, Dr. Abel Oruche,  told a Punch correspondent on the telephone  that only those employed irregularly would be removed.

He also said he was not aware of the interrogation of the chairman or any other officer of the commission by the ICPC.

He stated, “I’m not aware that anybody was interrogated by the ICPC or whether the chairman was invited.  Nobody interrogated the chairman of the FCSC, any commissioner or any official.”

Oruche explained that some people were employed without vacancies, adding that the staff audit was aimed at fishing out such people.

He stated, “The press statement we sent was not reactive, but to explain to people what we have done and what we are doing to avoid rumour or insinuations.

“It is an ongoing audit to make sure that all those people, who were employed irregularly without existing vacancies, are removed.  We didn’t issue the statement because somebody called us.”

Punch

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My Words Were Twisted By Punch- Queen Nwokoye

Queen Nwokoye whom her interview appeared on Punch over the weekend has said her words were twisted. She took to twitter to talk about it saying Punch was too big for what they did. But the truth is it was just a reporter from Punch that conducted the interview and it was just placed at a little corner of the paper online. If you also ask the reporter about the so called question, he will also have what to say. But before then continue below to read her tweets...

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UNIOSUN Lecturer Caught In S3x Tape With Student Writes Open Letter To Nigerians & The World At Large

The embattled lecturer at the Department of Languages and Linguistics of the Osun State University, Ikire Campus, Dr. Olabode  Ojoniyi, has accused one of the lecturers of the university, who was recently dismissed for an alleged misconduct, as the person who allegedly contracted the 400 level female student to blackmail him.

The female student, who secretly recorded sexual activities involving her and Ojoniyi recently released the video, which has been generating reactions.

But Punch gathered from some students of the university that Ojoniyi, on Friday, posted an open letter on the platform of the Great Linguistics Whatsapp Group, where he accused the female lecturer and the Provost, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Prof. Olukoya Ogen, as the architects of his problem.

The embattled lecturer, in the letter entitled, “Open letter to Nigerians and the whole world on the alleged “UNIOSUN lecturer in sex scandal video” also accused Professors Alebiosu O. C and Akintayo D. I of UNIOSUN of connivance with his sworn enemies.

The letter read, “I am Olabode Wale OJONIYI, the man in the eyes of the storm of Femi Makinde’s  “UNIOSUN lecturer in sex scandal video” published in The Punch of 11th August, 2016.

“While I have instructed my Lawyers to take appropriate legal steps on the said report in The Punch of yesterday, 11th August, 2016, I am using this medium to inform Nigerians and the whole world that I am ready for an open live television media investigation of the said allegation against me provided that the said lady in the report, Ikwe Ejiro Mercy, will be invited and present.”

“…I am here pleading with well-meaning Nigerians and any reputable television media organisation to quickly organise and call for this open media investigation panel on this case. I sincerely look forward to this open panel. Thank you.”

Ojoniyi said he had contacted his lawyers to institute a legal action against Punch on the story, saying he was ready for a live interview by any television station on the matter.

When contacted whether he wrote the letter, Ojoniyi refused to pick calls put across to his telephone line by Punch and the chats sent to him via whatsApp were marked read but the lecturer refused to reply the questions raised.

Meanwhile, one of the lecturers accused by the embattled lecturer, Prof. Alebiosu, when contacted on the telephone by our Punch, said Ojoniyi was making spurious allegations to exonerate himself.

Alebiosu, who was the chairman of the Staff Disciplinary Panel set up by the university to investigate allegations of unlawful adjusting of students marks by some lecturers, said his panel set free the female lecturer because eight persons had the password to the computer from where the marks were adjusted and it would be wrong to pin it down on her.

He explained that after that, another evidence was brought against Dr. Amao and she was eventually sacked due to the fresh evidence against her.

He added that Prof. Ogen brought the sex video before the panel as an evidence against Ojoniyi.

Alebiosu said Ojoniyi admitted that he was the one in the video and he was advised to go and make peace with those in his department because he (Ojoniyi) was at war with virtually everybody.

Alebiosu said, “Prof Ogen, who is now the chief executive of the Adeyemi College of Education came to testify and showed the video that has unfortunately gone viral as a testimony against Ojoniyi.

“My panel was investigating allegation of mark adjustment and we reported the new evidence to the management and advised him to go and make peace with those in his department. He confirmed he was the one in the video.”

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