Police dismisses nine officers, demotes another six

The Nigeria Police Force, on Tuesday, dismissed nine senior officers and demoted another six officers for different cases of misconduct.

The Spokesman for the Police Service Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, said in a statement that the dismissals and demotions followed the fifth plenary meeting of the Commission, that held on March 26 and 27, 2019.

Besides the dismissed and demoted officers, the Commission also ratified ‘severe reprimand’ for five other officers and ‘reprimand’ for another five.

According to the statement, “Those dismissed were Abdul Ahmed, a Superintendent of Police who will also be prosecuted; another SP, Adamu Abare, had his promotion from SP to Chief Superintendent of Police withdrawn before his dismissal.”

Deputy Superintendents of Police, Osondu Christian, Samson Ahmidu and Pius Timiala were also dismissed and will all be prosecuted. Their promotion from DSP to SP was also withdrawn.

Assistant Superintendents of Police, Agatha Usman, Esther Yahaya, Idris Shehu and Usman Dass were also dismissed for different reasons.

“Oluwatoyin Adesope and Mansir Bako had their ranks reduced from SP to DSP, while Gbenle Mathew, Tijani Saifullahi, Sadiq Idris and Alice Abbah were demoted from DSP to ASP,” the statement said.

A Commissioner of Police, Austin Agbonlahor, who was investigated by the commission was, however, exonerated.

The statement noted that the decisions of the commission have been conveyed to the Inspector General of Police, Ag. IGP Mohammed Adamu for implementation in a letter signed by the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Commission, Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri.

The dismissals and suspensions follow the dismissal of the police officer that killed Kolade Johnson in Lagos. 121 officers were also dismissed in December 2018 for absconding after they were deployed to Boko Haram states.