By Wisdom Patrick, Lagos
As 24, 118 policemen continue in the euphoria of the celebration of their new ranks, some 194 of their colleagues have forfeited their promotions, following their on-going trial by the Force Disciplinary Committee (FDC).
Though the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) retired Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mike Okiro, would not want to give details of the development, he however confirmed that there are Policemen who were due for promotion but were denied.
According to him, “those ones have some pending disciplinary action and until they are cleared, they would not receive any form of incentive from the Force including promotion. But if at the end of the panel sitting and any one of them comes out clean, i can assure you that he/she would be promoted as the case may be.”
It would be recalled that no fewer than 195 senior police officers are facing a disciplinary panel for various acts of misconduct, Police authority had announced this in May last year in Abuja.
Among the officers are four Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs); 17 Commissioners of Police (CPs); two Deputy Commissioners of Police; six Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs); and 166 others of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and above.
The affected officers according to a competent source at the Force Headquarters in Abuja are still under-going investigation by the Force Disciplinary Committee (FDC) chaired by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of ‘A’ Department, Suleiman Fakai.
DIG Fakai had said that his committee inherited over 3000 cases in January 2013 and that all the cases had been dispensed with.
“Some of the officers found culpable in that batch were handed various disciplinary actions ranging from dismissal, prosecution and demotion to reprimand and warning.”
Meanwhile, as part of on-going measures geared towards boosting the morale of Police officers and rewarding those who have excelled in their assigned roles, particularly in the area of combating crimes and criminalities in society, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Muhammed Abubakar has ordered the release of the promotion of 24, 118 policemen.
A break-down of this promotion which ranks as the highest number of Police Officers promoted in one fell swoop in the history of the Force and cuts across different ranks is as follows; a Commissioner of Police (CP) promoted to Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) to Commissioners of Police (C) Assistant Commissioners of Police to Deputy Commissioners of Police, Chief Superintendents of Police to Assistant Commissioners of Police.
Others are Two hundred and forty-two (242) Superintendents of Police to Chief Superintendents of Police, Four hundred and twenty-four (424) Deputy Superintendents of Police to Superintendents of Police, Seven hundred and fifteen (715) Assistant Superintendents of Police to Deputy Superintendents of Police, Five thousand, one hundred and fifteen (5,115) Inspectors to Assistant Superintendents of Police, Fifty-five (55) Senior Inspectors to Principal Inspectors, Five Hundred and twenty-five (525) Inspectors to Senior Inspectors, Two thousand, six hundred and seventy-one (2,671) Sergeants to Inspectors, Two thousand eight hundred and seventy-six (2,876) Corporals to Sergeants, and Eleven thousand four hundred and seventy-four (11,474) Police Constables to Corporals.
