BY: VITALIS UGOH, Calabar
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Another Police strike action nationwide is imminent following the refusal of the Police authorities to promote officers and men who were due for promotion since 2020.
Already, this is generating ripples amongst the rank and file of the police, as those aggrieved General Duty Policemen in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, affected are accusing the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, of selective promotions.
Sources close to the police Headquarters in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, shows that names of many of those who were promoted in 2016 and supposed to be promoted again last year were omitted in the November 19, 2020 promotion without any explanation from the Force Headquarters.
In an interview with our reporter, spokesman for the aggrieved officers, who did not want his name on print for fear of reprisals from his superiors, said since the aggrieved officers had nothing incriminatory in their files, and were not passing through any disciplinary measures, it was obvious the IGP was deliberately refusing to give them what rightly belongs to them.
He said, “we were promoted last in 2016 and were due for another promotion to rank of Inspector last year. On November 19, 2020, the Police authorities released names of those who were promoted and surprisingly our names were not included for reasons we are not told till date”.
“There is no disciplinary issue against us. We have complained officially to the authorities and still nothing has been done. The painful thing is that our Juniors have been promoted ahead of us and we are still waiting, he added”.
“Nobody has told us anything, no communication, nothing. As the IGP has not told us why we are not promoted, it shows his action is deliberate. People are aggrieved, people are very worried. This has already affected our output”.
“At times, one could be willing to put in his best and work but each time his mind wanders to such treatment, it affects him psychologically, affects patriotism, morale, mood, appetite to food and general performance. To be frank, we cannot even sleep at night as our minds continually wander about to ascertain reasons for such treatment, it is traumatic”.
“If you had done something wrong and this type of treatment is meted out, you’ll understand but in this case nobody has told us what our crimes were. There is already a psychological issue, you cannot pretend that all is well when it is not. Communication has reduced, interaction has reduced”.
However, authorities in Zone 6 Command, which oversees Police operations in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, have said “no one, who was due for promotion, was denied his dues”.
Zone 6 Police Public Relation Officer, DSP Nelson Ukpabi, in a telephone interview with our reporter said the allegation was ‘untrue”.
“I am not aware of any officer of the 2016 batch who has not been promoted. They were all captured and there is nobody left. We don’t have any of them in my zone. As we speak, the last promotion has captured those who were expecting theirs. Everybody knows his own time”.
“As we speak, it is out batch, who were promoted in 2018, that is awaiting promotion. We have completed our three years and definitely between now and the third quarter of this year, we should have our own, I don’t think there is any other person left”.
“But let me also explained that in some cases, special promotion could come. Some persons could benefit from it but one cannot complained over this because the number is always negligible and this does not call for somebody being aggrieved at all, DSP Ukpabi said”.
