Nigeria: Buhari names new police chief

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has a new Inspector General of Police (IGP), as the president seeks to immediately replace the former head of police, Solomon Arase.

Local media portals report that the new police chief is Ibrahim Idris, who until his new appointment was the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of federal operations, Force Headquarters, Abuja.

Arase and other security service chiefs, were hosted to a dinner on Monday night at the presidential villa, where President Buhari lauded his efforts during his tenure at the helm of the police service.

It also provided an opportunity for me to host outgoing Inspector-General of PoliceNG, Solomon Arase, to dinner pic.twitter.com/eMHxRBSrbr

— Muhammadu Buhari (MBuhari) June 20, 2016

Nigerian police have a high reputation of being corrupt and the new IGP has the task of undertaking the clean up. The police also has the task of maintaining internal security in most states in the country.

Nigeria’s complicated security situation as a result of insurgency has led to the military undertaking security duties especially in the three northern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.