Baba: There’s No Time to Waste Time!

For the New Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, his appointment isn’t a tea party, writes Olawale Olaleye

The appointment and subsequent decoration of officer Usman Alkali Baba as the nation’s new inspector general of police is not one to attract envy. Landing such a good job at a rather inauspicious time is no less a delicate balance, which of course, declines all the flashes and pizzas, given a different epoch.

Perhaps, Baba is not unawares of his current job description, not as a police officer per se, but as one, who has just been handed the most unattractive assignment of securing an ‘uncivil population’. He’d acknowledged the state of Imo State and admitted there was a need for clean-up in the Southeast state.

But Imo is just a fraction of the humongous assignments that his appointment has thrown his way. The Southeast and the South-east regions have been security unfriendly in the last few months – killing police officers at will, burning down security facilities and carting away weapons of the state.

Apart from Enugu, there have been strings of attacks on police officers and facilities identified as theirs in some states within the Southeast and the South-south regions. But fears are that, if the attacks on the police continued, it could complicate the already deteriorating security situation in the country.

It is commonplace that Nigeria is currently struggling with Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastpart of the country, banditry in other parts of the north, kidnapping and the perennial clashes between herders and farmers in several other parts of the country, the south inclusive.

Thus, with the seemingly coordinated attacks on the police and their facilities across many states, the country is fast replicating a description of the Hobessian setting.
In Ebonyi State, for instance, three Police Officers were killed from Onueke Police Station in Ezza South Local Government Area on January 8. On February 4, the Police Divisional Headquarters in Isu, Onicha Local Government Area was burnt down and on March 1, the Iboko Divisional Police Station in Izzi Local Government Area was brutally attacked.

Imo State is currently in the news for all the wrong reasons. On February 5, two Police Officers were killed from Umulowo Police Division in Obowo local government Area, while on February 25, another Police Station, Aboh Mbaise Divisional Police Headquarters, was burnt. And On the 9th of March, the Police Station in Ihitte-Uboma local government Area, was burnt.

Anambra State too has been volatile lately. On March 18 an officer was killed at a Police checkpoint in Neni, Anaocha local government area. The following day, another officer died at Ekwulobia Police Station, Nanka and on March 31, three officers were killed in an attack on the former Central Bank Governor, Chukwuma Soludo at his hometown in Isuofia.

Abia State hasn’t fallen far from the three either. On March 22, three Police Officers were killed in Abiriba, Ohafia Local government area. Two more officers were again killed on February 23 at the Abayi Divisional police Headquarters in Aba, while another was killed on February 1 at the Omoba Police Station in Isiala Ngwa South council area.

Curiously, South-south’s Edo State has not been left out of the ugly trend. In early February, three policemen were killed, when gunmen attacked a zoological garden. One civilian identified as the managing director of the Ogba Zoological Gardens was kidnapped in the attack, police spokesperson Moses Nkombe, said.
In neighbouring Cross River, gunmen have continued to be on rampage. They reportedly killed no fewer than six policemen and a soldier in an attack at a checkpoint in Obubra on the Calabar-Ikom highway. In the attack, several other policemen were injured. Sadly, the attack came barely two weeks after four policemen were also killed at a checkpoint in Idundu, near Calabar.

Although the Nigerian police had reportedly arrested sixteen militants of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) for alleged complicity in a series of violent attacks on security operatives and facilities in some states in Southeast Nigeria, the tide has yet to abate.
Police spokesman, Frank Mba said, the suspects were arrested in various parts of the country following sustained, and intelligence-driven sting operations.

He explained that the police investigations had clearly established and linked the suspects to several attacks and murder of security personnel as well as stealing, unlawful possession of firearms, arson and malicious damage to operational assets of military and law enforcement agents.

Isn’t it interesting that this is the time that Baba has taken over the leadership of the police? While the test and strength of true leaders often manifest in times of crises, such leaders do not sit back and rely on old approaches and expecting that the tide would turn around. This is where Baba would have to prove himself different, if at all he intends to scratch the crisis on the face.

Nothing, though, suggests that Baba understands the nature of the crisis at hand as he is expected to be properly briefed soon, his profile, however, presupposes he came prepared to the job.

Born on March 1, 1963 in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State, Baba enlisted in the Nigeria Police on March 15, 1988, having held a Teachers’ Grade II Certificate from Teachers College, Potiskum. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (ED) degree in Political Science from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Bayero University, Kano.

Until his appointment as the acting IGP last Tuesday, he had held several positions in various commands of the force.
For example, he had served as Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Yola, Gombe, Kaduna and Jos. He also served in Ilorin, Kwara State as Area Commander; second-in-command in Ebonyi State and Assistant Commissioner (CID), in Kaduna.

In Kaduna, Baba served as the deputy commissioner (administration), while in the FCT, he served as deputy commissioner of police (Investigation). He was also in the staff college as a directing staff.
In January 2014, he became a commissioner of police and in July 2016, an AIG. He was commissioner of police in the FCT and Delta State and later served as the AIG in charge of Zone 5 Benin, Zone 4 Makurdi and Zone 7, Abuja.
Baba, who had attended peace keeping operations outside the country, was promoted to the rank of DIG in November 2020 in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) until his appointment as IGP on Tuesday. He had acted as DIG in charge of Finance and Administration and at some point served as Force secretary. For his career growth, he had attended a few professional courses hence he is a member of Course 22/2014 of the National Defence College (NDC) Abuja and also a fellow of International War College.

Due for retirement in 2023, Baba said for the record lately that he would like to “leave a legacy of policing with human face.” That promise, however, starts now as he is under pressure to bring sanity to different parts of the country. After all, his job is already cut out for him.

Besides, his meeting Friday with Police Strategic Commanders – Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police (Operations) – in charge of the South-east and South-south states to brainstorm on how to tackle the security crisis in the two zones, was a confirmation of the fact that he had a good idea how to go about the issue at hand.

The meeting, which held at the Force headquarters, Abuja, it was learnt, was part of efforts by the new police leadership to critically diagnose the security threats in the regions and evolve new policing strategies and responses towards tackling them.

“We have called this meeting to discuss issues affecting us in the South-east and South-south geo-political zones. We have a very critical situation in the two zones, which needs immediate attention –rejigging our strategy to ensure that it is contained. It is not like we do not have problems in other geopolitical zones of the country, but we have to address them one after the other,” he said.
Now, the new police leadership can prove its mettle.