Indications emerged yesterday that a shift in loyalty and the crisis rocking Ekiti State House of Assembly may have been responsible for the sacking of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba.
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday sacked the IGP and appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Solomon Arase as Acting IGP with immediate effect.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, made the disclosure on his tweeter handle.
In a statement, Abati said until his appointment, Arase was the Head of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department.
Arase holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Law, as well as Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Political Science and Strategic Studies.
He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Defense College.
Meanwhile, there are indications that Abba’s sack may have link with alleged shift of loyalty and the crisis rocking the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
Sources revealed that since President Jonathan lost election, the former IGP started pandering towards the opposition. He was accused of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11, 2015 election, in the hope that the incoming Buhari administration could retain him.
The former IGP allegedly sent emissaries to Buhari’s wife, pleading that she persuaded her husband to retain him after May 29 handover.
On the Ekiti connection, sources revealed that the police sided the APC lawmakers, on the instruction from the Force Headquarters.
According to a source, who pleaded anonymity, “the former IGP was working with some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Ekiti State Assembly crisis against the wishes of President Jonathan that peace must be maintained in all parts of the country after the elections.
“The removed Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, had gone to court to challenge his removal and the matter is still in court. When a matter is pending in court, the normal thing is for parties to get the matter sorted out there first before further actions are taken, but Omirin and his colleagues haven’t allowed this to happen in this case.
“This Ekiti Assembly crisis started anew and with sustained vigor after the result of the presidential election was announced and Major-General Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the president-elect. They got the backing of the police.”
Source claimed that the Presidency had insisted that the rule of law must prevail in the matter but later discovered that “the former IGP had agreed to provide cover for the APC lawmakers to enter Ekiti State and go ahead with their impeachment plan.”
It said the president did not want crisis in the country “and therefore had to remove him to ensure law and order continue to prevail in Ekiti and all parts of the country.”
The protracted Ekiti Assembly crisis is also believed to have caused the sudden transfer of a former Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, who was moved days to the governorship election.
