Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Frank Mba, has come under fire from the President of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Barrister Uche Wisdom, for insulting his Igbo ethnic group while reacting to criticisms of lopsided promotions in the Nigeria Police Force.

Intersociety, a non-governmental organisation, had last week released a three-part petition to the Police authorities in the country, the National Assembly and President Goodluck Jonathan on the lopsided promotions in the Nigeria Police Force, which the group sees as a violation of the federal character provisions and spirit of the country’s Constitution.

According to Barrister Uche Wisdom in his written contribution to the debate, “The reaction of the Nigeria Police Force through CSP Frank Mba in the Newswatch newspaper to the petition is uncouth, insultive, derogatory and inflammatory. CSP Frank Mba is quoted to have said: ‘There can never be more than one IGP and eight DIGs at a time, and if some officers from a particular ethnic group in the country decided to retire or opt out of the service to do businesses like importing containers, thereby giving room for other ethnic group to get promoted when it’s promotion time, then the IGP is not to be blamed at all. If a particular tribe joined the service years after (members of) another ethnic group were recruited, you don’t expect the ones that joined late to be promoted before the ones that were the first to be recruited.’

“To refer to a people as ‘container importers’ is uncouth, derogatory and insensitive. It is regrettable that a Force Public Relations Officer could so refer to a people. It is important to state that managers of public relations of institutions, especially strategic institutions, should always clean up their language. I am so shocked that CSP Frank Mba, in addressing the allegation, could so react. He should reflect on his reaction. We do not need inflammatory reactions to sensitive allegations or demands.

•Photo shows under-fire Police Spokesman Frank Mba.