By Albert AKPOR
WITH less than 2 years to complete the 35 mandatory years in service, Nigeria’s 14th indigenous Inspector-General of Police Mr. Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo was sacked from office in a manner that many has described as shocking and unceremonial.

The 57-year-old Political Science graduate of the University of Nigeria Nnsuka was appointed into the Nigeria Police Force number one seat in July 2009 by late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua and was just a year and two months old in office before he got the boot from President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

No reason was given for his sack safe for what the Special Assistant to the President on Media and publicity, Mr. Emma Niboro in a statement described as “goodwill message from the President.

Onovo

The president thanked the outgoing IGP Onovo and outgoing SSS chief, Gadzama
for their dedication to the service of their fatherland and wished them well in their future endeavours.”

Two months after his appointment , Friday September 11, 2009 to be precise, Onovo granted his first interview to Vanguard’ where he said in his office. “What should I say? I am just six weeks on the job. I have not even done the ususal tour of the commands. It is also not my style to talk. I would rather have the things I do speak for me.” he said.

However, when he eventually resolved to have the interview, he spoke softly, slow, picking his words. Sometimes you need to strain to hear him. That is the kind of man Onovo is. Gentle, too handsome to have anything to do with the police, an organization that has remained the nations’s whipping child. Beneath his gentility and kindness.

Upon his appointment, Onovo came out with what seemed like a three point agenda. He spoke of capacity building-(training and retraining of the men and officers) proactive and intelligence policing and the image of the Nigeria Police Force. Curiously his first task in the office was the mayhem in Bauchi caused by a religious sect called the Boko Harram.

Though the carnage took the police boss unawares and almost shook the country to its foundation, Onovo and his men rose to the challenge and was able to contain the crisis. He got the leader of the team arrested and dislodged the group even though they regrouped shortly afterwards.

He was quick to tell the nation why they crisis came to the police as a surprise: “You see it is not that we do not want to be proactive. The trends in policing keep changing depending on the realities and dynamics of society. The society is changing. We are employing intelligence-led policing and that is, the use of intelligence to pre-empt criminal activities.

This is the type of problem that I would want to use in Nigeria. We employing proactive measure even thought the Nigeria environment is not conducive for that type of policing. About the Boko Harram, through the intelligence-led policing, I can tell you that we had information concerning Mohammed Yusuf and his group, and we acted. We did what we could.

I was even DIG when he was arrested in Bauchi and charged to court about two years ago in Jos but he was released. Policing in democracy is different. It was the same court that released Mohammed Yusuf to say the he has freedom of worship. What should we have done. We are operating withing the limit of the law.”

Onovo’s determination to return and restore dignity to his men caused him to issue an order withdrawing policemen attached to some individuals and senior officers as aides to political office holders.

“I have my own ideas of how to reshuffle things and make them better. The withdrawal of policemen attached to some individuals was meant to restore dignity and make policemen available for the security of the greater number Nigerians. I also want to stop the demeaning roles some policemen attached to individuals play. All such aides were about 100,000 out of a total police workforce of 377,000.” he maintained.

His seeming third agenda which was capacity building led him into instituting training and retraining of officers in the police curriculum . He made sure that no police personnel was promoted without passing the mandatory and relevant course for such post. The anti-bomb command of the force has been re-energized and uplifted to international standard.

Over two hundred men and officers of the workforce have undergone training as bomb disposal and detector experts to forestall incidence of explosions in the country. Officers due for promotions were sent on courses relevant for their next rank, while others were sent overseas to be trained by more qualified foreign experts..

And in that regard, Onovo said, “I intend to give top priority to training, capacity building and welfare of the police, ensure qualitative service delivery and make them feel safer. The environment itself is not too healthy for policing. When people complain about us, you wonder why we are in high demand aborad.

This complaints show that the problem is not with the police alone but the large society.. However, I pray for a safer society so that we can enjoy the God-given resources of this country. I ask God that we should have peace and security and be the envy of others.

We should have the El Dorado this country can be. Vision 2020 wants to take Nigeria to one of the top 20 countries in the world.”

In all this however, and perhaps due to the short period in office, retired IGP Onovo’s well thought- out policies and policing strategies could not be adequately felt. Most of policies either died in the pipeline or never materialized after all.

Perhaps again, his gentle striding which is almost antithetical to the Nigerian environment could be grossly blamed for his seeming dismal tenure. Society watchers say, the retired IGP was not vibrant and fire-branded like his predecessors.

“He is too slow to action and even though he meant good for the Police Force and by extension Nigeria, his approach was too elitist. He is intelligent but not operationally aggressive like his immediate predecessors,” remarked an antonymous senior officer.

Again, and perhaps it was his fate, Onovo’s short stay at the prestigious Louise Edet House was replete with high rate of kidnaping and other violent crimes. Most high profile killings including journalists could be unearthed.

The internationals human rights watchers denigrated the Police Force as most corrupt and rights abuser during his short tenure. His inability to handle the unending Jos crisis and of course, the Boko Harram carnage and the killing of the sect leader while in detention all scored Onovo very low and snared him for the boot he got eventually.”