President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has said the television report on the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos State was meant to embarrass and damage the image of his government.
Jonathan, who spoke after an unscheduled visit to the 75-year-old police training institution on Friday, wondered why the report was allowed in the first place.
The President’s arrival at the College with his retinue of aides created a traffic gridlock around the Ikeja axis, especially under the bridge close to the General Hospital.
Jonathan was on his way to attend a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire when he decided to pay a visit to the College.
He arrived at the College at about 3pm.
On arrival, the vehicles that conveyed him and his team parked in front of the College’s Sports Store.
They moved on foot to the dormitories.
The sudden visit caught police officers unawares.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, covering Lagos and Ogun States, Mamman Tsafe; and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Umar Manko, among other senior Army and Air force officers were on ground to receive the President.
The President’s first port of call was the male hostel.
He also visited the female hostel, the the kitchen and the dining hall A and B facing the parade field, where he saw firsthand the “squalor” in the 75-year-old institution that had been responsible for training more than one-third of the policemen and women in the country.
There was watertight security provided by soldiers and policemen as the President moved around.
Jonathan then addressed the Commandant of the College, asking him questions which he could not provide answers to.
Passers-by were not left out in the frenzy that attended the visit of Jonathan.
They shouted and made frantic efforts to catch a glimpse of the President.
They chanted, among others: “Our number one President”; “the God-sent President”; “the President of Nigeria”; “Our own very President”.
Jonathan raised his right hand to acknowledge cheers from the crowd.
The President and his entourage also inspected the Police Officers Mess, Ikeja.
The television report had it that 50 recruits shared one head of fish, took cassava flour (garri) with one cube of sugar and live in hostels where the rooms are not only dilapidated but flooded whenever it rained.
The recruits, the report said, were provided with meals worth N150 per day.
Jonathan asked the senior officers in charge of the college why the damning television report was allowed in the first instance.
The senior police officers however were unable to provide answers to the President’s questions.
After waiting for answers to his questions that were not forthcoming, Jonathan said the damning report was a calculated attempt to smear the reputation of his administration and damage the image of his government.
He said the decision to focus on the Police College, Ikeja in the report was suspicious as it was not the only police training institution in Nigeria.
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