Who Is Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, The New Acting IG? (2)...The Controversy

Mixed reactions on Wednesday greeted the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, as the Acting Inspector-General of Police. Abubakar replaced Mr. Hafiz Ringim, who retired from service on Wednesday.

While the President of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, condemned the appointment, the Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Kawu Sumaila, hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for picking Abubakar.

The CD President, in a statement, said Abubakar was not the right man for the job because the Niki Tobi panel indicted him over the Jos crisis of 2001. Describing Ringim’s retirement as belated, the CD President said, “The fact is that there is a systematic failure in the police.”
 
Abubakar is no stranger to controversy, having been indicted by a judicial panel over sectarian crises in Jos, Plateau State, when he was the state’s police commissioner during the 2001 riots that claimed hundreds of lives.

He was recommended for voluntary retirement or dismissal by the Justice Niki Tobi Commission of Inquiry, which described him as a “religious fanatic” who took sides during the crisis.