Juliana Francis
A 65-year-old Police Inspector, Samuel Akinyosoye, has implored the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, to do everything humanly possible to ensure payment of his salary arrears and entitlements.
Akinyosoye, who enlisted into the Nigeria Police on April 1, 1977, with Force No 78765 Sgt, said he was attached to Alausa Police Station, where he was accused of committing a crime he didn’t and was kicked out of the Force. According to him, he was not given a fair hearing.
He then petitioned the then IG and commissioner of police. The matter was taken to court.
However, it was a joint suit, whereby, both junior and senior policemen, who felt they were unjustly dismissed from the Force for one reason or the other, sued the police.
The court ruled in favour of the policemen and asked the police hierarchy to reinstate and pay their money.
Till date, the money had not been paid. Akinyosoye said that as long as the court had instructed that his money should be paid, he wouldn’t stop asking for it.
He also disclosed that during his tenure as IG, Ogbonnaya Onovo instructed that Akinyosoye’s money should be paid. Onovo even signed a document to that effect.
Akinyosoye said: “I worked at Alausa until 1991 when a case was brought to the station and I was called to investigate it. It was a case of theft of money, involving a lady called Suzanna Nze. In the course of investigation, I arrested Suzanna and some other suspects, with money found on them, which I deposited with the exhibit keeper, Sergeant Shuaibu Salau. After about two weeks, I was asked to transfer the case and the exhibit to Area F Police in Ikeja.”
He added that soon after, policemen from Area F Police came to pick the suspects. Akinyosoye said that day, the exhibit keeper was not around. He had gone to Abeokuta in Ogun State for investigation. When Salau returned from Abeokuta, he and Akinyosoye took the exhibit to Area F Police.
He recounted: “We were then accused of taking a bribe from Suzanna, which was not true. We were arrested, detained, taken for Orderly Room Trial and then dismissed. Salau and I were both sergeants. I immediately appealed the verdict by writing a petition to the IG and the Commissioner of Police. According to the law, one must appeal in less than seven days after an orderly room trial.”
Akinyosoye said that he was not attended to until 2002, when the then President set up a committee chaired by Senator Usulor Vincent Obasi to look into the complaints against Nigeria Police Force, at the Police Affairs.
He said: “I was among those recommended to the Police Service Commission (PSC) with reference letter No. NASS/CPA/50/64 to be reinstated. I was on No 98 in that letter, which contained 150 petitions that were treated. The chairman of the PSC ordered fresh investigations, after which the board of directors sat and approved that I should be paid all my entitlements under the command of the Chairman, Mike Mbama Okiro. The order was forwarded to the IG, Onovo.
Akinyosoye received a response from the IG via a letter dated June 6, 1997, signed by a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Audu, Camp Commandant, Force Provost Marshal, for the IG.
He said: “The letter was proof that they are looking into my matter. I also appealed to the Senate and the Committee on Police Affairs. The committee looked at over 250 petitions and I was among those recommended for reinstatement. The Senate forwarded the letter to the office of the honourable chairman of PSC.”
Akinyosoye showed our reporter the letter, which was stamped and showed received on September 26, 2002.
“PSC opened a new file and reinvestigated the case. The police were ordered to reinstate and pay me all my arrears,” said Akinyosoye.
“PSC sent the letter to the IG while IG forwarded it to the Police Budget. The Police Budget replied to the IG, asking that my data should be forwarded for action,” he added.
Akinyosoye also presented the letter to our reporter, which showed that it was signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Abdul Salami Iyaji, for the Commissioner of Police Budget in a letter dated March 5, 2010.
He also showed documents requesting for his data and those of other reinstated policemen. The document showed that more than 90 policemen were reinstated, including senior policemen, inspectors and rank and files.
Akinyosoye said: “After that, I
wrote a series of letters to the IG. The last one was through Falana Chambers
on May 6, 2019. It was received on May 8, 2019. Mohammed Adamu referred the
letter to Police Legal. Legal investigated and sent findings to Adamu in a letter
No CB:3514/x/LEG/FHG/ABJ/Vol38/
The letter from the Legal Department was signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Augustine A Sanomi for Commissioner of Police, Legal/Prosecution Section, Abuja.
Akinyosoye said that he was surprised that despite letters sent to the Police Budget and his data, the police were yet to pay him.
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