Men of the Police Mobile Force(MOPOL) atop an Otokar Cobra APC advance in northern Nigeria
THE GUARDIAN
19 December, 2012
TO contain insurgency during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, Tuesday announced that the force would retool
its officers and men nationwide, with
particular attention to flashpoints.
Abubakar, who disclosed this in Abuja
during a meeting with squadron
commanders of Police Mobile Force
(PMF), said that Borno, Yobe, Bauchi,
Gombe, Adamawa and Kano states
were some of the states to be affected by the review. He stressed: “We are
determined to reduce crime and
criminality to the barest.”
Other issues slated for discussion at the meeting, according to the IGP, included bribery and corruption, training and capacity building, human rights abuses,
conduct and discipline of officers and
men as well as welfare.
Expressing his resolve to return the PMF to its past glory, Abubakar said: “The
PMF is the elite force of the Nigeria
Police Force (NPF). We want to look at
those glorious days and compare and
contrast the differences from what it was and what it is now.” He lamented the attitude of some Nigerians who he said would not worry about the lives of officers and men of the force except those who are victims of kidnappings
According to him, “most times, when people are kidnapped, they are rescued. Even along the line, we lose our personnel, but what worries me more is that most Nigerians are only after those who have been kidnapped; they are not after our officers and men that get wounded and die in the course of service.”
