Nigeria Gets New Police Chief

Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Sulaiman Abba has been named Nigeria's new police chief with his appointment taking effect from August 1.



"President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the appointment of AIG Suleiman Abba as the new Inspector General of Police," presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said in a statement on Thursday night.



Abba, from northwest Jigawa State, will replace Mohammed Abubakar, a police officer from northwest Zamfara state whose 35 years of service expired today.



He previously served in several positions, including assistant commissioner in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department.



Abba's appointment means that all the six deputy inspectors general of police - all of them his seniors - would proceed on retirement according to standard practice.



However, some of them may opt to remain in the service as a matter of choice, according to police affairs analysts.



The appointment, according to sources in the seat of power, satisfies Nigeria's delicate ethno-religious and geopolitical balancing.



Abba, like his predecessor, is a Muslim from Nigeria's north.



All the country's military service chiefs and intelligence czars except the Chief of Air Staff are all Christians.



Analysts told AA that Abba's seniors in the police are mostly Christians and from the south, and their appointment could spark fresh allegations of ethnic politics against Jonathan, a Christian from the oil-rich southern region.



But Abba's appointment comes with huge burden as Nigeria battles a five-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced up to six million people from the country's northeast.



The appointment of the new police chief also comes months before the country's general election that is expected to be keenly fought between the ruling People's Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressive Congress.



By Rafiu Ajakaye



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Lagos