Mogadishu | Thursday
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo fired Nigeria’s police chief and six deputies on Wednesday, citing mounting crime and the country’s first-ever police strike, officials said.
The decision to dismiss Inspector General of Police Musulimi Smith and his deputies was approved at a meeting of the police council chaired by Obasanjo in the capital, Abuja.
Smith was replaced by his assistant, Tafa Balogun, who was responsible for police operations in key northern states, including Kano and Kaduna.
Police walked off the job for the first time in January over pay and promotions demands, but the strike quickly ended after the government declared the action amounted to a mutiny and sent soldiers into the streets.
”In the light of developments in the security situation in Nigeria, coupled with the recent police strike action, the president sought the advice of the Nigeria police council to appoint a new inspector general of police,” said Kaduna State Governor Mohammed Makarfi, who sits on the council with the vice president, other governors and top police officers.
Nigeria has been plagued for years with ethnic, political and religious conflict. Outbreaks of violence have killed thousands since Obasanjo won 1999 elections ending 15 years of oppressive military rule.
Crime is also rampant in the poverty-wracked but oil-rich nation of 120-million people. – Sapa