{"id":17177,"date":"2025-09-22T08:24:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T08:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=17177"},"modified":"2025-09-22T08:27:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T08:27:37","slug":"arase-honouring-the-impact-of-a-police-reformer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2025\/09\/22\/arase-honouring-the-impact-of-a-police-reformer\/","title":{"rendered":"Arase: Honouring The Impact Of A Police Reformer"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dakuku Peterside, PhD.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are moments when a country loses more than a person; it loses a compass. The passing of Dr Solo\u00admon E. Arase on August 31, 2025, felt like that\u2014an abrupt dimming of a steady light that had, for years, shown what policing in Nigeria could be if guided by principle, civil\u00adity, and courage. He did not simply occupy offices; he dignified them. From the Force Criminal Intelli\u00adgence and Investigations Depart\u00adment to his years as Principal Staff Officer to IGP Sunday Ehindero, to his own tenure as Inspector-Gener\u00adal of Police and later as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the constant was a quiet insistence that policing is a public trust and that trust is earned by fairness prac\u00adtised, not proclaimed.<\/p>\n

What distinguished Arase was not the rhetoric of reform but its architecture. He believed the pre\u00adsumption of innocence is not a le\u00adgal ornament; it is the backbone of public legitimacy. He understood in\u00adtelligence-led policing as more than a slogan: prevention over spectacle, early warning over belated force, careful listening and documenta\u00adtion so that outcomes can command respect because the process did.<\/p>\n

Despite our strong friendship, after his appointment in 2015, we engaged on several political issues during the numerous post-2015 by-elections in Rivers State, which tragically saw over 500 lives lost in the 2015 governorship elections. Although we often disagreed on approaches, he remained steadfast in his convictions and principles. He never yielded to my requests, despite the government\u2019s support at the time.<\/p>\n

He understood that standing by one\u2019s convictions was more critical than seeking convenience. While we held differing viewpoints, we al\u00adways respected each other\u2019s beliefs. When convinced about a cause, he committed to its execution whole\u00adheartedly. Above all, he was a patri\u00adot par excellence\u2014Nigeria was his primary constituency, not just Edo State or the South-South region. His personal integrity and unwavering commitment to justice were the cor\u00adnerstones of his leadership.<\/p>\n

His fingerprints are on reforms you can touch. The Police Duty Solicitors Scheme, which began as a 2006 Memorandum of Under\u00adstanding, matured\u2014through his persistence\u2014into Force Order 20 in 2017. This scheme, which ensures that individuals in police custody have access to legal representation, is a tangible example of his com\u00admitment to fairness and justice. Although his successor signed the order, Arase ensured that the ground was prepared, drafts were complete, procedures were scoped, and intentions were clear. If, today, fewer people are held arbitrarily, if interviews are more frequently cau\u00adtioned, if detention registers can be audited rather than imagined, it is partly because he refused to let fair\u00adness depend on personalities.<\/p>\n

Dr. Arase\u2019s unwavering com\u00admitment to transparency and ac\u00adcountability was a cornerstone of his leadership. He understood that these principles are not just ideals, but the very foundation of a just and fair society. His push to digitise critical parts of FCID\u2019s work was a testament to this. He knew that transparency is not a press release; it is a trail. Case-tracking, record integrity, custody logs\u2014the dull, essential infrastructure that makes it harder to disappear a file, to mis\u00adplace a suspect, to bleach the chain of evidence\u2014were, to him, acts of justice. He cared deeply about reduc\u00ading rights violations to the barest minimum and was willing to invest his energy in building systems that would check impunity and protect human dignity. It was impossible to miss the fact that his leadership was rooted in principle, and his heart was firmly anchored in justice.<\/p>\n

As PSC chairman, he carried the same light into a different room. Re\u00adcruitment and promotion should be based on merit; discipline should mean predictable standards. He narrowed the gap between rule and practice, inviting civil society and the human rights community to be partners rather than adversaries. Reformers who barricade them\u00adselves behind rank rarely outlast a news cycle; reformers who build coalitions, however, tend to outlast the news. Dr. Arase\u2019s leadership was not about dictating from the top, but about fostering collaboration and shared responsibility for reform.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Former Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Arase\u2019s impact was not lim\u00adited to his professional roles. He was more than his offices; he was a warm and caring individual in a world of cold institutions. He no\u00adtably established the Police Com\u00adplaints Response Unit (CRU) to provide citizens with a formal chan\u00adnel for reporting police misconduct and advanced community policing to foster trust between law enforce\u00adment and the public. He favoured intelligence-led policing over illegal police roadblocks, which often lead to extortion.<\/p>\n

He was not one to shy away from the truth, even when it was about the institution he loved. At the In\u00adstitute of Security Studies seminar in 2017, he lamented the absence of a shared national threat analysis to guide proactive policing, warned that budgets balloon at headquar\u00adters while stations starve, and ar\u00adgued that the IGP should set stan\u00addards and ensure quality control, while operations devolve and are re\u00adsourced at the level where crimes oc\u00adcur. He named the cannibalisation of investigative capacity for what it was and refused to accept the drift from prevention to post-mortem. He spoke about the distortions of VIP guard duties and the corrosive arithmetic by which money buys safety for a few while subtracting it from everyone else. His frankness about these challenges underscored the urgency of his reform efforts.<\/p>\n

What he left us is not a cult of memory but a blueprint. We know its contours because he drew them patiently. Codify what works and measure it openly\u2014PDSS compli\u00adance, custody dashboards, com\u00adplaint resolution times that citizens can see and compare. Clarify the clear lines of demarcation between the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force so that re\u00adcruitment, promotion, and disci\u00adpline are transparent rather than transactional. Rebuild the investi\u00adgative spine of the CID\u2014ring-fence station budgets so that the basic work of policing is not a monthly improvisation. Reduce VIP deploy\u00adments and redeploy talent to com\u00admunity policing and investigations. Complete the digitisation he began: real-time detention registers, case management with enforced time\u00adlines, chain-of-evidence systems that make good practice the path of least resistance. And above all, reshape culture through scenar\u00adio-based training that centres civil\u00adity and procedural justice, matched with leadership pipelines that re\u00adward restraint as much as arrests.<\/p>\n

Dr. Arase\u2019s efforts have already brought about significant changes. PDSS is not merely a programme; it is a rule with metrics. Digitisation pilots mean some files now carry the scars of scrutiny\u2014harder to vanish, easier to audit. The habit of inviting civil society into the room has more defenders than detractors. These are foundations, not finish\u00ades, but foundations are not failures because rooftops are missing. They are invitations\u2014and warnings. If we build on them, we save time, trea\u00adsure, and lives. If we ignore them, we will start again, poorer and more cynical. Dr. Arase\u2019s reforms have set a promising path for the future of Nigerian policing, offering hope and optimism for a more just and fair society.<\/p>\n

Legacy is often mistaken for headlines. Arase measured his by standards adopted, procedures nor\u00admalised, and people he pushed gen\u00adtly but firmly toward better prac\u00adtice. When praise did not come, he kept working; when it finally did, he shared it. Perhaps this is why his death feels larger than the page can hold: the work was never about him, which means the story is now about us. Will we institutionalise what he began or return to the wasteful hab\u00adit of treating reform as a personality project? Honouring him demands choices, not eulogies.<\/p>\n

The Presidency and National Assembly must provide the statutes and appropriations that enable sta\u00adtion-level excellence. The PSC and NPF must live under the bright lines he advocated. Governors must move from ad-hoc patronage to compacts that fund prevention, not merely response. The Bar and civil society must keep the doors open and the data honest. Officers\u2014from recruits to commissioners\u2014must rediscover the quiet pride of doing things by the book because the book protects both the public and the police.<\/p>\n

This is our farewell, and it is also a charge. A good man has gone, but the good he outlined is not beyond us. He listened more than he spoke; when he said, it was to clarify. He preferred practice to performance and asked difficult, practical ques\u00adtions that stripped policies of their vanity. If leadership is the lives we touch and the legacies we leave, then Dr Solomon Arase led well. And may we find, in the steadiness of his example, the courage to finish the work\u2014to build a police service that treats Nigerians not as subjects to be managed but as citizens to be protected, and to keep lit, in our own time and place, the small lamps he set along the way.<\/p>\n

Solomon Arase\u2019s contributions to police reform are immeasurable, yet he rarely receives the credit he deserves for laying the foundation for the change the country urgently needs but often lacks the courage and leadership to implement. Un\u00adfortunately, the country lost one of its finest police officers and a former Inspector General in August of this year. IGP Arase\u2019s most significant contribution was his unwavering focus on crafting a fresh vision for the Nigerian Police\u2014one centred on restoring public trust and ensuring law enforcement conducted its duties with the highest standards of civility.<\/p>\n

I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have met, worked with, and learned from him. His life and service remain an inspiration, a reminder that leadership is not about position, but about the lives we touch and the legacies we leave behind. My heartfelt condolences go to his family. May God grant them the comfort and strength they need at this time and grant the soul of Dr Arase eternal rest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dakuku Peterside, PhD.   There are moments when a country loses more than a person; it loses a compass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17180,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17177\/revisions\/17180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}