New IGP assumes office, talks tough

From Molly Kilete, Abuja

ACTING Inspector Gen­eral of Police, Ibrahim Id­ris, yesterday took over the mantle of leadership with a promise to intensify the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This, he said, he would do by strengthening the police X-Squad units across the country and provide person­nel with lucrative incentives and other logistics to make them more effective in fight­ing corruption.

Idris said he would deploy thoroughly vetted, selfless and patriotic officers to the squad to tackle corruption and abuse of office within the police and at the federal, state and local government levels.

The IGP made this known shortly after taking over from his predecessor, Solomon Arase.

He said: “In our efforts to give a boost to the current ad­ministration’s war on corrup­tion, the police management team will strengthen the po­lice C-Squad units in the po­lice commands with the de­ployment of thoroughly vetted, selfless and patriotic officers to tackle corruption and abuse of office within the police organisation and among the federal, states and local government levels.”

The new IGP also prom­ised to reorganise the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), to tackle violent criminality that is gradually taking over  our streets, neighbourhoods and communities across the country. Idris also said he would establish forensic laboratories in all the six geo­political zones in the country to boost the capacity of the police in investigation and prosecution of crime and establish a Joint Operation Centres in all police com­mands for effective coordina­tion and synergy with other security agencies so as to re­spond to major crisis in the shortest possible time.