The acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has rued the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, saying it created a vacuum in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria by the police.
He also said that personnel of the Nigerian Police were yet to fully recover from the effects of the #EndSARs protests, noting that their morale had remained dampened as a result of the protest and the recent attacks in the South-East.
Baba stated this on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the weekly Ministerial briefing, organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
According to the IGP, regular policemen and women are yet to fit into the vacuum created by the SARS disbandment not minding ongoing efforts to train them for the new role.
Noting that the security situation stabilises most times but with pockets of problems around the country, Baba said that police had recorded successes against secessionists and criminals in the South-East.
He, however, said that thoss arrested cannot be prosecuted and brought to justice due to the ongoing strike by judiciary workers.
Speaking in the move to recruit 10,000 new police personnel, the IGP hinted that the process had reached 70 per cent and promised that the exercise would stick to the Federal Character principle.
Baba further revealed that suspects had been arrested in connection to the attack on the Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
The governor was attacked by suspected herdsmen on his farm on March 20, 2021.
Baba said those suspected to be behind the attack have been in custody for the past one month.