President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Solomon Arase, a former Inspector-General of Police, as the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC). The president made this known in a letter to the Senate on Tuesday wherein he sought the lawmakers’ confirmation of the former IGP.

In the letter read out by the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, the president said the appointment and request for Senate confirmation is in accordance with Sections 153(1) and 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. If confirmed, Mr. Arase will succeed Musiliu Smith, another former IGP who resigned under controversial circumstances last year.

Born in 1956 in Owan West Local Government of Edo State,  Arase attended Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Benin where he graduated with a political science and law degree.  He also had a Masters Degree from the University of Lagos. He was recruited into the Nigerian Police in  December 1981.

Mr. Arase served the police in various capacities – as Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State, as in the intelligence gathering unit as Assistant Inspector General of Police as well as part of the  United Nations peacekeeping operation in Namibia. His last appointment was as the 18th Inspector-General of Nigerian Police (IGP)  by  President Goodluck Jonathan, a position he held from April 2015 – 21 June 2016.