Something frightening is happening at the Nigeria Police Force! It compels attention. It started after President Muhammadu Buhari named Kanuri-speaking Mr. Usman Alkali Baba to replace Mr. Mohammed Abubakar Adamu as Nigeria’s 20th indigenous Inspector General of Police (IGP). And what is it, you may ask?
The new sheriff is quietly cleansing, reshaping and rebranding, from inside out, and unsparingly, the hitherto uninspiring public image of the Force. People familiar with his ancestry swear that he is following in the footsteps of his forbears in the way he is changing the narrative that often trails the police. When last did a police man harass you at a check-point? If you are yet to feel it, then it means you will soon feel what they now call the Alkali Baba Surprise at the Nigerian Police.
Can any good thing come out of Nigerian Police, you are probably asking? The issue of the police, as the story is fast turning out, is about leadership, that is, the type of raw, charismatic and fearless leadership which IGP Alkali Baba is giving to the Nigerian Police, arguably one of Nigeria’s most vilified.
As I write, we await, with bated breath, how the police under his watch will handle the case in Lagos where popular artiste, Seun Kuti, slapped a uniformed police officer on official duty. Just as the outrage over this Kutigate was still spreading, the IGP ordered immediate arrest, investigation and prosecution of the alleged artiste, the last son of the late iconic Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
But while this story is still loading, this article is a peep into the IGP’s ongoing makeover of the Police. It is also the story of the history of the iconic lineage of the IGP Usman Alkali Baba that defines morality, chivalry, courage, refinement and scholarly advocacy of public good and order.
The deeply Islamic and generic Alkali Gazali family of Borno State has produced eminent and fearless clerics, jurists, scholars, administrators and change agents dating back to centuries ago.
There are the highly-revered Ambassador Ahmed Al-Gazali, former Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, the late irrepressible, dogged and tireless Professor Muhammad Nur Akali, who did many national assignments simultaneously such as Vice Chancellor, University of Maiduguri and first civilian director general of NIPSS. There is also the aspiring Dr. TijaniAlkali Gazali, pioneer director of Civil Appeals Department in the Federal Ministry of Justice who, two years ago, became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as an assistant chief state counsel (a Level 14 civil servant) in the ministry. They say it runs in their family.
For Alkali Baba, his emergence on the scene at Loius Edet House bore little signs except his fine looks, chubby cheeks, fair smooth skin and an huge gait that easily confuses a first acquaintance. His velvety voice will easily make a good career as a radio personality. But there lies his power punch, according to those who know him too well as a thoroughly tough top cop, and a no-nonsense officer who, in their estimation, has, with his full frame, rolled order, discipline and decency, into the police.
The IGP uses both hands in equal measure. His pace and speed has often made things difficult for those unwilling to reform especially preferential posting-seekers. The reigning rule now is: report to duty as deployed or face sanctions, another subtle way of telling influence-peddlers to stay off posting, promotion and personnel matters in the force. The rule has permeated the rank and file thereby restoring discipline, order and professionalism. The redemption song is so sweet that President Buhari added two more years to his tenure without a hiss.
And what is more? A connecting dot in Alkali Baba’s personality is that he is a southpaw, an ambidexterous left-handed officer who leads the police with the right hand. Except we pry into his certificates, we don’t know his grades in math but the feeling is that judging by the manner he is tackling existential issues in the police, he must have made good grades in math where southpaws are known to be handy.
The IGP uses both hands in equal measure. His pace and speed has often made things difficult for those unwilling to reform especially preferential posting-seekers. The reigning rule now is: report to duty as deployed or face sanctions, another subtle way of telling influence-peddlers to stay off posting, promotion and personnel matters in the force. The rule has permeated the rank and file thereby restoring discipline, order and professionalism. It is a new song today so much that President Buhari added two more years to his tenure without a hiss.
To illustrate the Alkali Baba story, I digress here a little to reveal that most left-handed people are free critical thinkers, broad-minded, receptive and independent-minded. They are constantly growing, adapting to their situations, showing confidence to take sincere, honest action as flexible problem-solvers without self agendas.
This is why the top cop is succeeding in his little space at the Police Headquarters as an officer with capacity to turn things around where the average police officer is the center-piece of his reform agenda and also forging a workable synergy with the Police Service Commission, (PSC) now under former IGP Solomon Arase, a major priority. It is obvious he came prepared for the job.
My little research on the community of left-handed people in combat arts across world and data on careers of 10,000 professional boxers and mixed martial arts fighters showed that left-handed males and females do better in fights thereby reinforcing the ‘’fighter hypothesis, which suggests they have a greater chance of winning fights due to a ‘surprise effect’.
‘’Anybody who had fought or sparred with a southpaw, it can be hard work, the main reason for this is that every move they make is the opposite from what you are generally used to, so it’s like a mirror image of yourself, they have a competitive advantage because their opponents are likely to be disoriented by their fighting chance’’, the study said.
Credible accounts maintain that Alkali Baba’s regime has picked on promotion, motivation, adequate reward and remuneration as part of his general reform agenda to usher the Nigerian police into a new era to perform its duties in line with modern realities. The jury is out that he has performed creditably well in the welfare of officers and men of the service evidenced in their readiness and willingness to courageously fight terrorism and other crimes including kidnapping for ransom.
Professionalism and gallantry which had ebbed in the force have gone up tremendously as a result of a series of training and re-training ranging from intelligence-led policing, rapid response to drugs and related crimes, counter-terrorism simulation, public relations to intensive training sessions on Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), among others.
According to Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), the Alkali Baba-led police force secured the arrest of 10,333 criminals (including terrorists/secessionists (367), murder suspects (386), armed robbery suspects (977), suspected kidnappers (429), suspected cultists (483) and 7,691 uncategorized arrests) while also recovering a total 14,212 arms and ammunition. The police also rescued 948 kidnap victims, and fraction of at least 4,680 Nigerians abducted across the country.
It is note-worthy that last year the police chief increased the salaries of officers by 30 per cent while also paying over N30 billion to about 7, 000 Permanently Disabled Officers and the Next of Kin of deceased officers apart from making available free uniforms, accoutrements, kits and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to them as morale boosters.
Last year, the IGP’s office received 1,220 complaints against police actions 960 of which were resolved with 135 sanctions awarded to erring officers meaning that more than ever, malfeasance now carries proportionate consequences. Unnecessary over-zealousness often causes such infractions but it is clear now that the Nigerian Police is no longer a haven for lawlessness of the few in order to expect public respect and sympathy.
It is now being tackled head-on, not excluding cases of mindless bullying and mistreatment of innocent persons and shameless extortion of the motoring public which the social media has often exposed. Beyond parading such errant officers before cameras, many had faced order room trials leading to their summary dismissal, instant demotion, and delayed promotion.
Within the same period in view, at least 198 projects including more than 120 modern police stations, barracks and other police buildings were reviewed and completed.
This installment piece may not be complete without a comment on the new-found partnership between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the leadership of the Nigerian Police for which keen observers have hailed PSC Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase and Alkali Baba. To further confirm the sincerity and commitment of the police high command under him, Alkali Baba recently pushed for a ‘police family meeting’ at the PSC headquarters in Jabi, Abuja which former IGPs attended with Mr. Sunday Ehindero reading the communiqué.
This development shows that Dr. Solomon Arase clearly has a good grasp of public expectations of a Nigerian Police that is alive to its responsibilities in the modern era. He has left none in doubt that the PSC has an onerous task to give IGP Alkali Baba all the support he needs to speedily transform and achieve a complete, repeat, not cosmetic, makeover of the organization into a great monument of national pride.
Note: The concluding series of this article shall cover, in great detail, IGP Usman Alkali Baba’s aggressive reform programs on modern training and re-training for men and officers of the Nigerian Police, massive provision of well-furnished offices, befitting police barracks and quality residential accommodation.
Others are the revamped operational mobility for rapid response and state-of-the-art high-tech operational architecture to enhance internal security as well as its improved institutional image at peace-keeping_operations _abroad among others, all_of which sum up as his Surprise Effect_
-Editor-in-Chief
