Jonathan Appoints Former IGP Mike Okiro As Chairman, Police Service Commission



President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated former Inspector General of Police; Mr Mike Okiro, as the new chairman of the Police Service Commission.

Mr Okiro’s nomination was announced in a letter sent to the Senate for the confirmation on Wednesday.

Okiro was the Inspector General of Police Force from 2007 to 2009.

President Jonathan in the letter also nominated former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, for the Chairman of Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission.

Among those nominated as members of the Police Service Commission are former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr Yakubu Mohammed, Mrs Comfort Obi and Mr Otive Igbuzor.

The President also requested the Senate to confirm the nomination of Mr Emmanuel Aremu as the Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In Abuja high court today ordered former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to pay N50 million as well as accrued interests over a landed property he bought under the table while he was head of the Nigerian police. Mr. Okiro was not in court as Justice A.M. Talban gave the ruling earlier today.

Acting Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, his immediate predecessor Sunday Ehindero and several other serving law enforcement top brass have been implicated in a cash scandal currently rocking the police.

We can authoritatively report that John Obaniyi, a commissioner in charge of finance at the police headquarters, and a principal target of investigations into the source of N21 million seized while being moved out of Police Headquarters in Abuja, has named Okiro, Ehindero and others in shady financial deals.

Senate Confirms Okiro PSC Chair



The Senate Tuesday confirmed the appointment of former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, as Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC) but rejected the re-nomination of Dr. Otive Igbuzor from Delta State as the representative of South-south in the commission.

Igbuzor was rejected thrice through a voice vote called by the Senate President David Mark without giving any reason.

Efforts to save the nominee by Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) through a point-of-order call failed as it was viewed as coming too late.

Other nominees confirmed Tuesday by the Senate were Yakubu Mohammed (retired DIG), a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olufunke Adekeye, Aisha Lara Tukur, Mrs. Comfort Obi and Chief Torngee Gem Toranyiin.

There was however, perception Tuesday that Igbuzor's rejection might not be unconnected with his constant criticism of government policies and institutions, including the National Assembly as a human and civil rights activist.

Igbuzor, Executive Director of African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), is the immediate past International Head of Campaigns of ActionAid International and Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria.

Mark however advised President Goodluck Jonathan to re-present Igbuzor if he felt strongly about his retention in the commission having been part of the last PSC leadership headed by a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Parry Osayande.

While charging the nominees to justify their appointments, Mark said the Nigeria Police, as important as it is, is also one of the numerous problems of Nigeria.

“The police commission is a very important commission. The police are one of the problems in this country. We want a police force of our dream; a force that truly can do police job; the police that can sort out crimes and defend us and a police force that is properly equipped to do its policing work very well,” Mark said.

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Okiro declares for FCT Senatorial seat

The former Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro has declared intention to run for the seat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senate in the 2011 general election.

He made the declaration on Tuesday when he visited the Ona of Abaji and Chairman of Abuja Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, to make his intention known to run for the senatorial seat of the FCT. He said his visit was meant to make his intention to contest the FCT Senate in 2011 election known to the people of Abaji and to receive a royal blessing and permission before kicking off his campaign.

He said the decision to run for the seat was borne out of the fact that past leaders, especially those running the affairs of the FCT have forgotten why Abuja was created, saying that if a visionary person like him didn’t stand up to correct past mistakes, Abuja will soon become Lagos where government parastatals are concentrated in a particular area.
He then promised to ensure that all mistakes in the city will be corrected and become a thing of the past if voted in as the FCT senator come 2011, adding that yearnings and aspiration of Abuja people will be addressed. “I have heard complaints, problems and requests from people of the FCT, I am now promising you by the grace of God, that those requests shall be looked into as soon as I am given the opportunity to serve,” he concluded.

While welcoming Okiro and his entourage on behalf of Abuja council of chiefs and people of Abaji, the Ona said he felt honoured and highly overwhelmed by Okiro for visiting Abaji before flagging off his campaign.

4 reasons why Okiro should not be confirmed as chairman of Police Service Commission



Citing four fundamental objections, the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) has kicked against the nomination of former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Mike Okiro, as the new Chairman of the Police Service Commission.

The NOPRIN, which is a coalition of 47 civil society organisations from all over the country, said Dr. Okiro’s nomination failed to meet, amongst other things, constitutional requirement.

The group’s four fundamental objections are:

1. The need to secure the role of the Commission as civilian credible and effective oversight mechanism;

2. Okiro’s role in popularising extrajudicial executions in Nigeria, an institutional illegality that has become a driver for internal extremism in Nigeria;

3. A clear and irremediable integrity deficits in Okiro’s candidacy; and

4. Okiro’s partisan interests which fail to comply with the Provisions of the Constitution.

NOPRIN argued that nominating Okiro will make mockery of the civilian oversight function the PSC was created to perform.

President Jonathan had on May 8, 2013 sent a nomination request to the Senate seeking confirmation of Dr. Mike Okiro as the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.

Explaining the need to secure the role of the Commission as a civilian credible and effective oversight mechanism, external to the Police, the group argued that the PSC is required to be independent and impartial and cannot be either of these if it is headed by a retired former Inspector-General of Police.

“This mission is destroyed by appointing a recent or former Inspector-General as the Chairman of the PSC.”

Okiro, who until recently was one of the special advisers to the PDP national chairman, has close ties with that party.

NOPRIN also contended that the PSC which was established in 2001 exists for the purpose of assuring the effectiveness and service quality of the police as well as dealing with discipline and promotions in the Force. It said that in other to fulfil this mission, it is essential that the leadership of the PSC should be guaranteed by someone external to the Force rather than part of it.

“What we need is a civilian-led PSC that has the courage to investigate all public complaints and cases of police abuse. Appointing a retired Inspector-General undermines and subverts this mission and renders the PSC ultimately into another department of the NPF. This is not good for the Police; it is inconsistent with the structure and purpose of the Constitution and the PSC Act of 2001; and defeats the whole essence of the establishment of the PSC as a civilian oversight body on policing in Nigeria. It has been demonstrated that the Commission will function, and has actually functioned more independently and effectively under a non police personnel rather than under a retired police officer. The impartiality and effectiveness of the PSC needs to be preserved and enhanced. Appointing Mr. Okiro diminishes it,” said the group in its statement which was signed by its spokesman, Okechukwu Nwanguma.

The group also spotted Okiro’s role in the promotion of extra judicial executions in the Nigeria Police Force:

“Under Mr. Okiro as IGP extrajudicial executions were celebrated in the Nigeria police as a strategy of fighting crime.

“In November 2007, Acting Inspector-General Mike Okiro reported that the police had killed 785 and arrested 1,628 “armed robbers” in his first one hundred days in office. This translates into a daily killing rate of 7.85 persons, a kill-to-arrest ratio of 1:2.07, or, in comparison to statistics announced by former Inspector-General Ehindero, an increase of over 400 percent on the official police statistics of encounter-related police killings for the years 2000–2004.

“In other words, Mr. Okiro oversaw more extra-judicial killings by the Nigeria Police Force during his time as Inspector-General of Police than any of his predecessors and grew the rate of extra-judicial killings by over 400%.”

They decried how that high level of extrajudicial killing did not raise alarms, unlike in “any decent society.” The group also lamented how the police can kill half as many ‘armed robbery suspects’ as they managed to arrest during Okiro’s first 90 days and seem to regard these routine killing of Nigerian citizens – criminal suspects or not – as a point of pride.

NOPRIN therefore contended that if the PSC has mandate to ensure accountability for police abuses – of which extrajudicial executions have remained a notorious aspect, it will be contrary to its purpose for it to have as its chairman, a man like Okiro “with such a tragic record of respect for the standards of professionalism in law enforcement.”

They emphasised that if the Senate consents to Okiro’s nomination as made by President Jonathan, they would be “voting to compromise the work of the Police Service Commission irretrievably.”

They therefore urged the Senate to “recognise and act in accordance with the imperative of strengthening the commission and securing its independence to effectively discharge its oversight functions of ensuring accountability within the police. The Senate should reject Okiro’s nomination as Chairman of the PSC.”