LUKKEY ABAWURU

Mr Ehindero had already warned officers and men of the force to desist from extorting money from motorists on the highways or risk being arrested and prosecuted for armed robbery.

To follow up his determination to cleanse the augean stable in the force, the acting IGP was said to have tried to effect the transfer of some officers. One of the redeployments, it was learnt, involved the Borno State Police Commissioner, Mr Ade Ajakaiye, who was expected to move to Lagos to replace his counterpart, Mr Israel Ajao.

But Daily Champion learnt that the exercise was stopped by the Presidency which was also said to have directed that the Commissioner of Police, Operations, at the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Abuja, Mr Lawrence Alaobi, who would have been redeployed, be rather assigned to oversee security at the on-going national conference in Abuja.

Mr Alaobi was said to have been penciled down to replace John Haruna, the incumbent Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, Lagos, while Mr Haruna was to have been replaced by a newly promoted deputy commissioner of police serving as Area Commander at Lion Building, Area A, Lagos, Mr Fabian Ojiri.

At a recent function in Lagos, Mr Ojiri, told our reporter that he was aware of the plans to post him out of Lagos but did not know where.

"I know I will be posted out soon, but I have not known the place," he had told our reporter.

Daily Champion gathered that the Presidency’s directive to the acting IGP to put on hold the planned redeployment may be political rather than logistics problems.

Already some police officers who are aware of the plans of the acting IGP to effect changes in the Force have started expressing worries that the interference from the Presidency may weaken Ehindero’s determination to fight the ills in the force.

Some police officers and men who spoke with Daily Champion on condition of anonymity, said that "the president’s interference may affect IGP’s direction and success."

However, all efforts to get the Force Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Emmanuel Ighodalo, to comment on the issue proved abortive as he was said to have gone out on tour with the IGP.