Markus Basiran, an assistant Commissioner of Police (APC) has been named as the new head of Complaints Response Unit (CRU) at the Force Headquarters.
He replaces the controversial Abayomi Shogunle who made unguarded comments concerning prostitutes which attracted a lot of flak fro the police from women groups.
In a statement on Monday, the police said that Shogunle had been redeployed as Area Commander in Nkalagu, Ebonyi State, where Basiran was serving before his new appointment.
News of Shogunle’s transfer to Ebonyi broke on May 4 on social media with many rejoicing over the news.
Shogunle, throughout his period as head of CRU, made several controversial comments which drew the ire of Nigerians.
Among his many controversial tweets was one where he justified the clampdown by policemen on a night club in Abuja, saying that sex workers do not pay taxes among other reasons.
He also attracted criticism in April when he advised that Nigerians should communicate with policemen in pidgin and not ‘Queen’s English’ to avoid misunderstanding.
Shogunle also mocked the #EndSARS movement which was propagated by families of victims of police extra-judicial killings and harassment.
“ACP Markus, who has attended Policy , Strategy and Leadership Course at Kuru Jos and Tactical Intelligence Command and Management Course in Enugu is a graduate of Sociology from Ahmadu Bello University and holds an M.Sc in Crime Management and Prevention from Bayero University, Kano,” the statement said.
“ACP Markus is expected to use his wide field experience in refocusing the CRU on its core mandate of running a community-oriented Complaint Management System using multi-platform reporting mechanism through which citizens ’ complaints, concerns and queries touching on professional Police misconducts as well as malfeasance by members of the public can be reported and addressed in real-time via a 24/7 Call Centre at Force Headquarters, Abuja.”
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has urged the public to cooperate with the new CRU boss.