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Describes exercise as highest form of provocation
BY RAPH ONYEKACHUKWU, AWKA – THE apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has blasted the Police Service Commission (PSC) over the recent gale of promotion in the Nigeria Police, describing the exercise as the highest form of provocation and marginalisation against the South East geo-political zone.
In the recent exercise, the Commission had announced the promotion of 37 police officers to their next ranks with the South East having only one spot allotted to it.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emeka Attamah said the PSc obvious disdain for the South-East is highlighted in the numbers allocated to other zones from the 37 officers promoted.
The promotion list indicated that the North West had 12; North East – eight (8); South West – seven (7); South South – five (5); and North Central – four (4) with only one for the South East.
The group’s statement said; “Ohanaeze Ndigbo frowns at this propensity of ensuring that the Igbo land is constantly under siege by having security heads from zones other than the South East in charge of security in the zone.
“In the recent promotion exercise carried out by the Nigeria Police Force, 37 officers were promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police.
“A cursory look at the list shows that the North West zone has 12 new Commissioners of Police, North East eight, South West seven, South South five, North Central four, while predictably, South East brought up the rear with just one new commissioner.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo observes that the already existing imbalance in the force exemplified in the fact that all Police Commissioners in the South East come from the North and not many Igbo officers are in the high echelon of the force should have made it imperative that more slots be given to the South East.”
Further demonstrating its annoyance at the position of things, Ohanaeze said; “It also rejects the unending and unnerving tendency of making the South East the whipping boy of the country in all matters of recruitments and appointments at the federal level.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo notes that while this habit of exclusion and denial has been the stock in trade of successive governments over the years, the preponderance of the marginalization in the present dispensation is unimaginable.
“What is more worrisome is the gross impunity with which these despicable acts are being perpetrated towards a people that are the mainstay of Nigeria’s unity and development.”
In demanding equity from the PSC and the police hierarchy, the statement declared; “Ohanaeze Ndigbo, therefore, in the spirit of fair play, equity and justice, calls for the recent police promotion exercise to be revisited and reviewed.”
