Background
He was born in 1924 in Dikwa in the Northeastern State of Nigeria, the third son of Mallam Bashir, a learned Arabic scholar.
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Kam Selem
Edit ProfileEducation
Educated at Dikwa and Bornu Middle School in Maiduguri. He decided at an early age to become a policeman, enlisted on April 24, 1942, and was given his basic training at the Northern Police Training School, Kaduna.
Career
A constable on the beat, and later a detective at Kano, he soon became a law instructor and prosecutor at the magistrate’s court, Kaduna, for three years.
In 1953 he became an assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent in 1955, going on an officer’s course in England in 1956. In 1958 he hit the headlines when he investigated and broke up a notorious counterfeiting gang, travelling as far as the Middle East on his enquiries.
Promotion followed rapidly and in September 1962 he became the first Nigerian to take command, as Commissioner, of the Northern Region. In July 1965 he was made Deputy Inspector General. After the January 1966 coup he was on the .executive council of General Ironsi. On retirement of Police Chief Louis Edet for health reasons, he was the youngest Nigerian to be made Inspector General of Police (head of the national police force), with a place on the Supreme Military Council. He is also a member of the Federal Executive Council and since June 1967 Federal Commissioner for Internal Affairs.
Personality
A thoroughly professional policeman who worked his way up from a constable's beat to police supremo. He distinguished himself in his early career as a detective in a number of major investi-gations. He has travelled frequently to Britain and has built his reputation on his work in the force.
