The drama between the new acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the former IGP, Solomon Arase is getting more interesting.
Idris had on Sunday mentioned that investigations into the disappearance of many vehicles parked at Force Headquarters a week to his appointment had commenced.
He had indicted the immediate past IGP in the vehicle disappearance at a meeting with reporters in Abuja, disclosing that preliminary investigation points to Arase as single handedly taking 24 vehicles, while some of the retired Deputy Inspector-Generals of Police (DIG) also went away with many.
Idris had said that the police already wrote to Arase and others to return the vehicles they took, as the former IGP was entitled to only four vehicles.
But Arase could not be reached for his response yesterday. But a source close to him had argued on his behalf that he would never stoop that low.
Idris had however insisted that a week before he was announced, he saw a lot of cars through his office window.
“But the cars all disappeared when I came in,” he said.
“What I did was to assign a directive to the Special Investigative Unit, SFU, for them to investigate all vehicles’ purchases and donations to the police in the last three years. “When I took over, there were no vehicles. I discovered that the last IG went away with 24 vehicles, including two BMWs.
“The DIGs took seven, others eight. And they left me with an old vehicle. Even the one I follow the President with the last time I went for an engagement, the President asked what I was doing with that kind of vehicle.
“The headlight has changed colour, which means it was parked for long under the rain. But the new ones that were bought, including an Armoured BMW 7 series, he took them away. So, I wrote to him and reminded him of the need to return the vehicles.
“When a policeman retires as IG, DIG, AIG or CP he is entitled to some vehicles. And so, he should take his entitlement and return the extra. I believe four vehicles are enough for an average person. What does one need 24 vehicles for?”
Arase replies– Idris is a big liar, I didn’t steal police vehicles
On Monday, the former IGP, Arase responded to the current IGP, describing him as a big liar.
Arase said Idris should cross check his handover notes which contains every information needed by his him on vehicles bought by the police.
The ex-IGP in a statement issued from London, United Kingdom, where he went for his son’s graduation also denied getting any letter from Idris since he has been out of the country.
According to him, all vehicles bought by the police under him were distributed to the state commands and other appropriate units of the Nigeria Police Force.
The statement reads: “I suspect there must be a disconnect somewhere because every information needed by my successor are provided in my hand-over notes. I’m also not aware that any letter was written to me because if there was any dropped in my house, someone would have alerted me.
“It’s unfortunate that this matter is being made a media issue because my successor has my telephone number and could have called me for any clarification or even sent me a text message rather than addressing the media on an issue well documented in my hand-over notes.”
Police Discover Whereabouts Of ‘Missing’ Cars
Police cars which were labelled missing by the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris were sent to an auto repair shop for total and comprehensive repairs for use of the next IGP, Vanguard is reporting.
The report said the cars were sent to Auto Computers located in the Jabi district of Abuja and that the spare BMW car has been completed and repainted.
The spare staff car was said to have been having engine problems for the last five years before the last administration sent it for repairs, the report indicated.
The report quoted a source at Auto Computer, saying the spare car was delivered to the Police headquarters on Sunday afternoon after completion of repairs and that officials of the company would visit the Acting IGP to demand for payment of the job done.
The Staff Car would require more time by the repairers because of the high technology embedded in the car, the report added.
It was found out that no one had approached Auto Computer to ask about the whereabouts of the cars, and that since it was the police that brought them, the company just went about their repairs, knowing that when it completed work the responsible police department will camoe for it.
It was discovered that the Works Department and the Force Transport Department that would have been approached for explanations were not approached, the report said.
It added that the IGP secretariat comprising of newly posted officers only wrote to the former IGP demanding the whereabouts of the staff cars and other 22 vehicles.
The former IGP had regarded the letter as a slight on his person, prompting him to write the curent IGP to check well, the handover note in his possession.
Further investigations revealed that the new IG has only raised a false alarm, without checking his documents properly and in other relevant departments regarding the whereabouts of other vehicles.
Checks with other departments had showed that the vehicles were intact and that while some were deployed for operations, the Police had records of the location of others.