“I heard it on the radio station and we will find out the number of those who were promoted and their states of origin. We will definitely investigate it because it is capable of demoralising our policemen. We will also look at their spread in terms of zones and states. We will do all these so that we will know whether there was really favouritism or not,” Abu had said.

The latest promotion exercise, which was released on December 16 2015 saw the promotion of 27 senior officers including an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), out of which 21 are from the Northern part of the country while the south has (six) 6.

Usually, promotions are based on the recommendations of the IGP, that Police Service Commission (PSC) promotes, to this end, one (1) Commissioner of Police (CP) is promoted to AIG, five (5) Deputy Commissioners (DCP) to CP, two Acting DCP to substantive DCPs, four Acting Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP) to substantive ACP and 20 CSPs to ACP.

A breakdown of the list made available by the police on yesterday in Abuja showed that, the AIG hails from the North-Central (Niger State);

DCP to CP 5 (N/East 2; N/West 2; S/West 1); Ag. DCP to DCP 2 (N/East); Ag. ACP to ACP 4 (N/West 1; N/Central 1; S/West 1; S/East1) and CSP to ACP 20 (N/Central 6; N/West 5; N/East 2; Rivers 1; S/East 4; S/South 1; S/West1).

A reaction by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Olabisi Kolawole, who has being promoted to a substantive ACP, said that “The IG views the allegations not only as malicious but also capable of creating disaffection among officers.

“In view of the current security challenges facing the country, the IGP calls on all good people of Nigeria to disregard any report capable of causing distraction especially now that all efforts should be galvanized towards national security in the new year,” she said.

She further explained, “postings of Assistant Inspectors-General of Police to Zonal Commands and Commissioners of Police to State Commands are made by the same body that is saddled with the oversight functions on the Nigeria Police Force based on recommendation of the IGP, who knows the operational competence and chemistry of the officers.