Ijaws Angry Jonathan Didn't Appoint Their Brother As Police IG

*Alamieyeseigha, Others Feel Insulted

There are strong indications that the appointment of Suleiman Abba as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has brewed bad blood between President Goodluck Jonathan and his Ijaw kinsmen, who had clamoured for a former Deputy IGP in charge of Operations, Mike Zuokumor. Mr. Zuokumor is an Ijaw man from Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

From what isaiahakomor.blogspot.com gathered, Mr. Zuokumor enjoyed accelerated promotion because of Jonathan and he was promoted about three times within a space of just five years.

But Ijaw leaders considered the appointment of Suleiman Abba as a move to appease northern interests ahead of the 2015 elections. Ijaw leaders were said to have made futile efforts to get Mr. Zuokumor to succeed the immediate past IGP, Mohammed Abubakar...

Mike Zuokumor

Specifically, LEADERSHIP gathered that a 'lobby group' headed by ex-Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, met with Jonathan on few occasions to press for the appointment of the former DIG.

The lobby group was said to have succeeded in pushing Mr Zuokumor through the Police Service Commission headed by Mike Okiro and he was eventually recommended to Jonathan for appointment.

However, it was gathered that Jonathan ignored the Ijaw leaders and the Okiro-led commission in settling for Abba, an Assistant Inspector General of police (AIG), from Jigawa state and a former AIG in charge of Zone 7, comprising Abuja, Kaduna and Niger states.

A source confirmed to LEADERSHIP that the Ijaw leaders were unhappy with Jonathan over Zuokumor. The source, who craved anonymity, said, “We lobbied Jonathan for DIG Zuokumor to no avail. This was the same way Jonathan sacrificed the career of an Ijaw immigration officer from Patani in Delta state, who was qualified to become the comptroller general of immigration, in favour of the present occupier of the position. The Ijaw man was the right man for the job but to our surprise Jonathan refused to appoint him.

“It is more worrisome that President Goodluck Jonathan even snubbed a lobby group headed by his former boss, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, over the appointment of the new IGP. DIG Zuokumor, who was eminently qualified for the job, was dumped in favour of a northerner apparently as part of the scheming for the 2015 elections.

“It is only in Jonathan’s era that South-south people, who have made it to the top of their career by dint of hard work, are being sacrificed in order to gain the favour of the north and brighten the chances of his re-election in 2015.