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Two years after it
was gutted by fire, the Inspector General of Police Officer’s
relaxation centre, known as the “IGP mess,” located on Shehu Shagari
way, in Area 11, Garki, Abuja, remains in tatters. A substantial part
of the N200 million said to have been released for its renovation has
disappeared. The ruined building is just one of the testaments Ogbonna
Onovo left behind as he ended his tenure as head of the nation’s Police.

Mr. Onovo was
named Inspector General of Police on August 5, 2009, taking over from
Mike Okiro, who retired. When he first took office, he promised a
series of sweeping reforms that included: raising salaries and
improving benefits, establishing a Special Monitoring Unit to check
officer misconduct and an array of retraining programmes. The early
days of his leadership witnessed some of these changes. However, Mr.
Onovo’s reforms soon began to falter.

After the 2008
fire incident, which killed James Mseilla a deputy commissioner of
police and an aide to Mr. Okiro, the former police chief promised to
renovate the IGP mess as part of his bid to improve the welfare of his
officers.

A NEXT
investigation confirmed that Mr. Onovo awarded the renovation to one of
his relatives known only as Majek. Officers say Majek may have
collected several millions of naira as a mobilization fee for the work.
In February this year, Majek removed the damaged roof, but has since
abandoned the building.

The police’s
public relations officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel
Ojukwu, said no official renovation contract was ever awarded for the
building.

“I am not aware of any contract in respect of the officers’ mess in Area 11,” he said.

Beyond the broken
promises to his staff, it was his inability to curb violent crime,
particularly kidnapping, and improve police performance that were
considered Mr. Onovo’s biggest failures.

Damning reports

Several
international human rights organisations have condemned Mr. Onovo’s
performance. In May, this year, he was dubbed a “Predator of Press
Freedom” by Reporters without Borders. The group noted that the police
enjoy complete impunity, even when their abuses are well documented.

“The abuses often
occur when reporters go to cover operations by police who decide they
do not want witnesses,” said the group on their website. “The verbal
threats, beatings, unwarranted searches and confiscation of equipment
are not the result of any official policy or use that politicians make
of the police. They are just the acts of an ignorant and thuggish force
that does its job with a great deal of enthusiasm.”

Another report
released by Human Rights Watch in August this year accused the force of
corruption, rape, murder and detaining innocent people then demanding a
fee for their release. It said the problem was systemic, as officers
were often forced to pay their seniors a share of the money they
extorted from the public.

A NEXT editorial noted that widespread impunity for officers accused of misconduct had led to “a rot in the system.”

Lack of account

Mr. Onovo has also
shown a lack of accountability in his personal affairs. Earlier this
year, he was sued by a human rights organisation over the illegal
detention of two police corporals accused of kidnapping an unknown
victim. The Abuja court ruled in the group’s favour and ordered the
police boss to release the two men. However, Mr. Onovo consistently
ignored the court’s orders – four of them – and denied knowledge of a
bench warrant for contempt issued by the court.

Officers have also
accused Mr. Onovo of using his office to corner choice business
contracts. A source, who asked not to be mentioned, said the recent
contract for the production of new shoulder badges was awarded to one
of his relations, Mike Onovo.

“Police officers,
including rank and file, totals 500,000; but the young Mr. Onovo was
only asked to produce 300,000 pieces, running to several millions of
naira,” said the source.

A difficult task

However, the
former IGP has defended his tenure, noting that reform of the force is
an especially difficult task. When he appeared before the House of
Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, during the 2009 budget
review, he said outside forces were interfering with his drive to
remove corrupt officers from the force.

“Out of the 10,000
policemen sent out of the force during a recent manpower audit, about
50 percent of them found their way back into the system,” said Mr.
Onovo. “They used various guises, including questionable
recommendations from influential persons in the society.”

Despite his poor
performance, the Inspector General of Police was among 186 people who
were honoured with the 2009 National Award by President Goodluck
Jonathan in July.

As Mr. Onovo leaves what is the shortest tenure for an inspector
general of police in the nation’s history, speculations are rife over
his future. But a look at his official website might suggest a clue:
the future portion is blank.