The Police Service Commission (PSC) has promoted Abdulrahman Baba Garba, an aide-de-camp to Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, in violation of the Nigeria Police Force’s guidelines on promotion.

On August 30, the commission told the public that it had approved the elevation of 684 officers to their next ranks.

“Eight Commissioners of Police were elevated to the rank of Assistant Inspectors General of Police while 15 Deputy Commissioners of Police were promoted to the next rank of full Commissioners of Police. 52 Chief Superintendents of Police were also promoted to Assistant Commissioners of Police, 525 Superintendents of Police promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendents of Police and 84 Deputy Superintendents promoted to Superintendents of Police. ASP Patrick Ebhodahe was also promoted to the next rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police,” Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations for the PSC, said.

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It is strongly believed that Garba was one of the beneficiaries of that promotion.

On Thursday, Jibrin posted pictures of Garba’s decoration with his new rank of chief superintendent of police (CSP) on X. Garba was a superintendent of police (SP) up until Wednesday.

“Yesterday, I decorated my aide-de-camp (ADC), Abdulrahman Baba Garba, who was recently promoted from Superintendent of Police (SP) to Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) of the Nigeria Police Force,” Jibrin wrote.

“Garba’s wife supported me during the decoration. This is a testament to his exceptional competence and unwavering dedication to his duties. His remarkable zeal and commitment to his work have earned him special recognition.”

According to the ‘Guidelines on Appointment, Promotion and Discipline in the Nigeria Police Force’, an SP can only be promoted to the next rank of CSP if they had spent at least three years on a rank.

“A Superintendent of Police may be eligible for promotion to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police subject to the following criteria: Seniority; the officer must have spent at least three [3] years as a Superintendent of Police; he/she must have earned B grade in APER for three [3] preceding years; he/she must have attended the SP-CSP promotion course and passed the prescribed examinations; he/she must not have any pending disciplinary matter (PDM),” article 2.5.6 of the guidelines state.

APER stands for Annual Performance Evaluation Report.

Contrary to the provision of the guidelines, the aide-de-camp had not spent three years on his former rank of SP. In fact, it was Jibrin who decorated him with the rank of SP on March 13, about a year ago.

“Today, I decorated my aide-de-camp (ADC), Abdulrahman Baba Garba, who was recently promoted from Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) to Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Nigeria Police Force,” Jibrin wrote on X last March.

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“Abdulrahman’s promotion is a testament to his exceptional competence and unwavering dedication to duties. His remarkable zeal and commitment to his work have earned him special recognition. I have no doubt that he will continue to ascend to greater heights and reach the pinnacle of his career. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to him on this well-deserved promotion and look forward to seeing his continued success in the future.”

Prior to the decoration, the PSC had announced the promotion of over 1,500 officers on January 24, 2024.

Selective and unmeritorious promotions, which have cut short the career progress of many officers in the NPF, are well documented.

FIJ recently reported how some officers lost their chance to be promoted because they could not pay a N10,000 bribe to some administrative staff at the police headquarters.

In 2016, thousands of officers lamented career stagnation of over seven years. Just in November, some police officers also complained that they had been due for promotion since 2023, but the authorities had failed to elevate them.