Did Buhari Really Appoint An Igbo Man Chief Personal Security Officer

There have been speculations, especially on social media, over the ethnic identity of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief Personal Security Officer, CPSO.

The president’s supporters, therefore, use the “appointment of Igbo man” as a butt of social media taunt to disprove assertions that the president’s appointments are lopsided in favour of the North.

The office of Chief Personal Security Officer was first created by President Goodluck Jonathan to pave a way for his erstwhile Aide de Camp, Moses Jitoboh, to be part of his personal security structure.

Moses Jitoboh being decorated by President Jonathan, assisted by the IGP Ringim and minister of Police Affairs Adamu Maina Waziri.

Moses Jitoboh being decorated by President Jonathan, IGP Hafiz Ringim and minister of Police Affairs Adamu Maina Waziri.

Mr Jitoboh, now a commissioner of police, is currently attending the Senior Executive Course at National Institute of Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru after enjoying accelerated promotion during the Jonathan administration.

A Facebook user, Joe Igbokwe, apparently triggered the controversy when he posted a photo of a police officer marching past the president in his office, saying “Please meet ACP Obinna Chukwuka, the tear rubber Chief Security Officer to Mr President.”

Another user, Nnaemeka Owen Brown, said: “This is the new Chief Security Officer to President Buhari. His name is ACP Chukwuemeka Obinna and he is an Igbo Man. What baffled me is the way Buhari is looking at him. This kind eye no follow at all. Are you sure this appointment is legit or campaign strategy?”

But checks revealed that a few months after Mr Buhari’s inauguration, his nephew, Abdulkarim Dauda Daura (not anybody named Chukwuemeka Obinna), was surreptitiously redeployed to serve as CPSO to the president.

Our correspondent gathered from inside sources that since his deployment, the new CPSO knocked off “Daura” from his name to weigh down public rebuke over the president’s penchant for “family and friends” appointments.

Late Dauda Daura, a groundnut merchant in the colonial era in Kano, was Mr Buhari’s elder brother with whom young Buhari (then known as Lako) once stayed.

From State House Chief of Protocol, Lawal Kazaure (married to Mamman Daura’s sister); Aide de Camp, Abubakar Lawan (married to Buhari’s niece); Chief Personal Security Officer (Buhari’s nephew);Sabiu Tunde, Personal Assistant (Buhari’s nephew), it was alleged that most of those around the president are related to him.

Controversies 

A few months after his promotion to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Daura was promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police, to the consternation of many of his course mates who are still Assistant Commissioners of Police.

In a leaked audio published by Daily Nigerian on March 1, the chairman of Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, was heard promising to promote Mr Daura to the rank of Commissioner.

Mr Daura, a deputy commissioner of police, is the son of Mr Buhari’s late elder brother, Dauda Daura.

In the audio, Mr Daura was heard begging Mr Okiro for the force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, to be promoted to the next rank.

“This boy came to me, begging me to talk to you, to plead with you about his promotion.

When Mr Okiro sought to know the “boy”, Mr Daura replied “Jimoh, PPRO, Force PPRO”.

Mr Okiro then said “Ok, Ok, we will work on that.”

“Even your own, I am putting you for CP,” Mr Okiro added.

Abdulkarim Daura being decorated with the rank of Commissioner of Police by Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari and Mr Daura’s wife as President Muhammadu Buhari watches on Thursday, July 5, 2018.

True to his promise, Mr Okiro has promoted Messrs Daura and Moshood were promoted to the next ranks in June this year.

Profile

Abdulkarim Dauda Daura holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.

He also holds a Diploma in Police Science from the Institute of Leadership and Management, United Kingdom.

He enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet Officer on January 1, 1985, and during his 33 years career as a police officer has passed through the ranks and earned his promotions diligently beginning as an Assistant Superintendent of Police 1 in 1988 to a Commissioner of Police in 2018.

In the course of his extensive police career, Mr Daura attended several training courses at home and abroad.

Prior to his posting to the State House as CPSO to the President, he served in different police commands and formation including the Sokoto State Command, Force CID Lagos, Katsina State Command, Lagos State Command, Edo State Command, Police College Kaduna and Kano State Command.

Born in 1963, he is married and has five children and two grandchildren.


Credits: Daily Nigerian