Why Ringim fell, his lackluster tenure

On November 4, 2010, Mr Hafiz Ringim came on board  as the 15th helmsmen of the Nigeria Police Force, having served in acting capacity for two months. Like his predecessors, Ringim highlighted the curbing of violent crime as one major aspect of his five-point agenda.
But barely 14 months into his assumption of office, crime in the country undoubtedly took a  sophisticated and fierce dimension, with the introduction of dynamites and combustive substances by the dreaded Boko Haram sect, a development that begun to threaten the internal security of Nigeria.

Ringim: Ex Police IG

This was aside incessant kidnappings in the eastern part of the country which spread to other parts of Nigeria.
Under Ringim’s watch, Nigerians virtually lost hope in the Police Force’s ability to carry out its constitutional obligation of protecting lives and property of the citizenry, following its inability to checkmate the excesses of the Boko Haram sect, which usually left in its wake, the death of several innocent and hapless Nigerians as well as the wanton destruction of property worth millions of Naira.

The incident that signalled the danger ahead and glaring inability of the Police to  contain the Boko Haram sect occurred first in Benue, where a police post was blown off, resulting in the death of  some policemen, an action the dreaded sect described as protest against Police killing of its member.
Not done with the damage, the sect in September 2010, attacked Bauchi prison and released some of the prisoners, some of whom were believed to be their members. Again, the Islamic radical sect blew the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp on Biu road, Maiduguri, Borno State, leaving scores dead and injured.
Although security agencies, including the Police, assured Nigerians that there was no need to panic as they were on top of the situation, that never assuaged Nigerian’s trust in them.
In fact, barely 48 hours after Ringim issued quit notice to the  Islamic sect, an explosion which rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, the sect struck again in a significant show of outright disregard for the Police chief who escaped death by whiskers in the suicide bomb explosion which shook the seven-storey, Louis Edet House, Police Headquarters, leaving all the windows on the northern side of the building facing the car park shattered and in shreds.
The bombings are countless, with several others in the northern parts of the country among which was the Christmas day explosion in a church  which sparked up agitations by Christian leaders. The recent  attacks in Kano, witnessed the highest number of casualty amongst whom was a reporter with Channels Television.

 Sources at the Louis Edet House told Vanguard the embattled Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim was over whelmed by the situation he found him self and was unable to respond with creative strategies.
Vanguard could recall an instance on October 8, 2011 when a group of security and intelligence experts briefed the former IGP on how to improve the operational efficiency of the Nigerian Police Force especially in partnering with the public to tackle the Boko Haram threats.
They told the sacked IGP of the various methods of producing Improvised Explosive Devices IEDs and the vulnerable spots that the terrorists would attack to get the desired impact. Unfortunately, Mr. Ringim never responded and virtually all the intelligence reports fed the former IGP came to pass.
A Senior Police Office in Force headquarter told Vanguard yesterday that the situation in the police is that no matter how brilliant you are or how innovative you want to be, the Command structure in the Police would not allow you to take action without the authorization of your boss, no body could remind the IGP of any issue.

Source: Vanguard