The newly appointed Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, is actually a senior officer to the outgoing IGP, Suleiman Abba, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.

Based on an internal police document obtained by this newspaper, Mr. Arase, an indigene of Edo State, was born on June 26, 1956 and joined the Nigeria Police Force on December 2, 1981.

However, the outgoing IGP, Mr. Abba, who hails from Jigawa State, was born on March 22, 1959 and was enlisted into the police on December 31, 1984, three years after Mr. Arase was enlisted.

Both officers were, however, promoted Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, on the same date – February 22, 2012 – shortly after Mohammed Abubakar was promoted IGP.

It is not clear how Mr. Abba caught up with Mr. Arase in rank, and eventually overtook him to become IGP.

However, on August 1, 2014, Mr. Abba was appointed Nigeria’s 17th indigenous IGP following the retirement of Mr. Abubakar from the service.

Until his new appointment, Mr. Arase was the head of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department and holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Law as well as Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Political Science and Strategic Studies.

Shortly before Mr. Abubakar retired from service, there were speculations that Mr. Arase, then the Assistant IGP in charge of the Police Intelligence Bureau, would be appointed IGP.

But with the appointment of Mr. Abba as IGP, Mr. Arase was elevated to Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the same unit.