TB/A/PL/290820 29/08/20

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE

FEDERATION,
SHEHU SHAGARI COMPLEX,
THREE ARMS ZONE, ABUJA.

Dear Sir,

MY HUMBLE PETITION AND AN OPEN LETTER:

WHY NIGERIA POLICE FORCE OWES NIGERIANS AN APOLOGY FOR

CONSCIOUS NEGLIGENCE AND CARELESS HANDLING OF SECURITY
OPERATIONS.

MY PERSONAL (ONE ON ONE) ENCOUNTER WITH SUSPECTED ‘FAKE’

POLICEMEN AND OR GROSSLY INCOMPETENT POLICE OFFICERS AND FEAR
ABOUT THE NIGERIA OF TOMORROW.

Date of Event:

Friday, 28th Day of August, 2020.

Time:

07: 45PM.

On Friday, the 28th day of August, 2020, at about 21:45hrs (7:45PM), I had
the most shocking and unimaginable encounter as a practicing Lawyer, Law-
 Brief particulars, details and features of the ‘Policemen’:

“A team of Eight (8) armed men with police jackets on jeans and polo-shirts,
sharply-new face caps with white-knitted inscription ‘POLICE’ at the front and a
metal “NPF” crest by the side, an NPF branded Vehicle with the number:
NPF962D, these men had no Police Identity Cards, they were not articulate and
poor in grammatical diction, vocabulary composition and terminology usage”.

MY STORY:

On Friday, the 28th day of August, 2020, at about 2145hrs (7:45PM), I had the
most shocking and unimaginable encounter as a practicing Lawyer, Law-abiding
Nigerian and a citizen of the earth.

The incident happened at Agunbelewo Area, Beside BOVAS Filling Station,

Ogbomoso Road, Osun State, Nigeria when the Bike I boarded with my Cousin
(Femi Ayegbusi) from my Osogbo Law Office at the address stated below was
asked to pull over by a team of armed men in police uniforms, guns, teargas and
other gadgets.

I, in my usual style, alighted, greeted and introduced myself to the as “T. B.

Ayodele, Esq, a Legal Practitioner in Osogbo and Principal Counsel, T. B.
Ayodele & Co.”

Rather than usual exchange of pleasantries which I enjoyed due to my close

rapport with the Police, I received a cold, unwelcoming, rude and most
embarrassing question that can only come from a fake or grossly incompetent,
bungling and inept Police Officers…. For I heard, “Wetin bi Legal Practitioner”?

On hearing this, I was alerted, but reasoned that it could be a mere act of
ignorance, I affirmed further that “I am a Lawyer”. Rather than healing off, the
wound was tampered, when I was told to produce my ID Card.

I instantly had the conviction that this cannot be members of the Nigeria Police
Force whose motto is, ‘Best in Africa”. Immediately I educated them that
Lawyers do not use Identity Cards. As it will be out of place for Nigeria Bar
Association to delve into making ID Cards for Lawyers rather than providing a
detailed Lawyers’ Directories.
Sir, I then asked these dare-devil looking men to produce their own Identity
Cards since they are on patrol, alas, they failed, refused, ignored and neglected
to produce any! For the avoidance of doubt, the Team is made up of 8 (Eight)
Men. None could produce a single Police Identity Card but my interrogator said,
without any sense of reservation of shame “that is it the Business of Police Force
to issue ID Card for the Nigeria Police?”, again I heard, loud and clear, “that is it
not the Federal Government the issues National ID Card?” these words were
coming from ‘Policemen’ on Patrol!

To cure my curiosity, I went ahead to ask the divisions they were attached, one
of them said, “we are from Abuja, we worked with the DIG”, I got interested and
in order to know them the more I asked if they knew DCP Abba Kyari, Deputy
Commissioner of Police (DCP) In-Charge of the Inspector General of Police
Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT), Force Headquarters Abuja but to my
surprise, my interrogator said the only Abba Kyari he knows was the Late Chief
of Staff to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-In-
Chief of Armed, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. I proceeded further to ask for
names of five Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), neither my interrogator
who is suspect to be the Team Leader, nor any of the Team members could
mention a single DIG in the Nigeria Police Force.

These men insisted on arresting me for not providing my ID Card as a Lawyer,

they claimed to have the authorization, permission and approval of a DIG whose
name throughout this unfortunate incident did not come up.

Infuriated, exasperated and enraged by my questions, one of the ‘policemen’ who

claimed to be Ose, approached me and threatened to beat me blue-black. Rather
than answer my many questions, these men forced me to sit at the back of
their branded Vehicle like a suspect. These men marched me to their vehicle
and attempted to take me to Police Station, again I asked, “which of the
Stations”? none of these men could mention (even if is to lie) a station in Osun
State.

I insisted and knowing where my destination with them would be and based on
this, I was asked to get down from the back seat of their branded pick up. Which
I did.
It was by the grace of God I was not shot by these angry, livid and
unprofessional “GENTLEmen”.

On getting home, bewildered, befuddled and baffled by the drama above stated, I
as a law-abiding citizen of this country, who has the very concern for the safety
of my fellow Nigerians, as I know an escape of these suspected fake policemen or
unprofessional police officers is a trap hole, extortion, injury and death to many
Nigerians.

I got the contacts of Senior Police Officers which includes the Inspector-General
of Police, MOHAMMED ABUBAKAR ADAMU,  NPM, mni whose phone number was
for reasons best known to Force Management Team who computed and compiled
the list ‘hidden’, seven (7) Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIGs) viz; DIG
ABDULMAJID ALI, DIG DEPARTMENT OF OPERATIONS whom (& who I
believe should be in charge of All Police Operations in Nigeria) I called on
phone number 08033104650 but the DIG did not pick, I called DIG ANTHONY
OGBIZI MICHAEL, fdc, DIG, FORCE INTELLIGENCE AND INVESTIGATION
DEPARTMENT (FCIID) (who I believe again will be in charge of all
Intelligence and Investigations, including but not limited to information
and alertness) on phone number 08104089811 severally without picking up; it
was after this when the DIG busied my call that I again put a call a call to DIG
LAWAL SHEHU, DIG, DEPARTMENT OF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT (who I
believe is in charge of training ‘All’ the Police Officers in Nigeria, the
ethics and etiquettes of Policing in the Nigeria society and I believe also
the he should be responsible for the evolvement and development in the
Nigeria Police Force we have today) on phone number 08033560903 again it
went unanswered. WHY WAS I CALLING? To alert them (the DIGs) about some
POLICE-MEN I suspect to be Fake Police or grossly incompetent miscreants who
lack a modicum of professional expertise are claiming, alleging and asserting to
be under the direct instructions (to operate in Osun State, waiting for a
suspected internet fraudster ‘yahoo or benefit-boy’ to go to Automated Teller
Machine (ATM) to withdraw money for them while all these drama were played
as an antic to wait for the poor boy to return having deposited his girlfriend and
his car. IT WAS WHEN THE BOY CAME BACK WITH HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY, I
WAS LET ALLOWED TO GO… MY QUESTION IS THIS, WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN
MY FATE, THE BOY, HIS CAR AND GIRLFRIEND IF HE HAD COME BACK
WITHOUT A PENNY in the hands untraceable dare devil-men. the drama ended
of these untraceable dare devil-men. the drama ended at the arrival of a boy with
money) of DIG which they failed, refused and neglected to mention – their names
and designations un-provided. Does that mean it could be all or some of the
DEPUTY INSPECTOR-GENERAL (DIGs)? When none of the DIGs I called
picked, I called AIG USMAN ALKALI BABA, fdc, FORCE SECRETARY on his
phone number 08033920912, the AIG picked after my third attempt and I
introduced myself after some short pleasantries, starting with my name,
occupation and location and informed him… Sir, some Policemen are in Osun
State Right now with NPF Patrol Vehicle Number, NPF962D, they claim
they are working with DIG, Abuja, sir, I suspect them to be fake the
response or reply of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG in charge of
all the secretariat affairs of the Nigeria Police) was epical, spontaneous and
jurisprudential all at the same time, …Osun State is not within Our
Jurisdiction; you may contact CP Osun State… if Osun State Command is
not within the Jurisdiction of the Force Secretariat, then who keeps records of
Osun State? How about the documentations, do they book-in or out in Osun
State Command? (all these questions came as a flash), …Sir, I proceeded, I
mean I am talking of Policemen claiming to be operating in Osun State
under the Direct Instructions of DIG in Abuja; these men could be fake, and
this situation can still be arrested before we talk of the issue of
jurisdiction… the AIG’s reply was… Revert to your Commissioner of Police
please, we don’t have jurisdiction in Osun State… with this I was confused,
but still I suggested; …Sir, with your position sir, road blocks can be
mounted round the State first so these men can be interjected if they are
fake before issue of jurisdiction is raised later. The AIG said …yes I
appreciate the suggestion but revert to your CP please, thank you for
information. Good night...Bye, I said and I hung the call.

Almost tired of all these, I reluctantly made a call to a Superintendent of Police

(SP) that I know, of all the calls I made to Senior Officers, only SP OGUNKANMI
GBEMILEKE jotted down the Number of the Branded Police Patrol Van. For he
took his time to hear say …NPF962D, Sir, N-P-F-9-6-2-D… that was the
number of their Patrol Vehicle…., I will get back to you Sir, Thanks. I hung
the call.
Sir,

I write the above as my ugly experience and I urge your good offices to accept it
as my humble petition against these unidentified Policemen who claimed to have
been sent by either all, one, two or more Deputy Inspector-General of Police to
harass innocent citizens, extort Nigerians of their hard-earned money in form of
an open-bribery collections, threatening with arrest, slaps, beating and shooting
few individuals who are keen to get familiar with them.

Having told them I am a Lawyer, they went ahead threatening to unleash fire
and brimstones, shooting and death for not producing or giving them what they
needed the most – money.

I am not an Officer, but I have read for several and numerous times Section 4 of
the Police Act which is reproduced hereunder:

“The Police shall be employed for the prevention and detection of crime, the
apprehension of offenders, the preservation of law and order, the protection of
life and property and due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which
they are directly charged, and shall perform such military duties within or
outside Nigeria as may be required of them by, or under the authority of this or
any other Act”.

The many questions begging for answers sir are; are these policemen real? If
they are, have they acted in obedience of the above stated Section of the
Act? If yes, in what way? Did this Section of the Police Act also give them
the power to wait by the road side for a boy suspected to be a Fraudster to
go to ATM to make money withdrawals for the sole purpose of purchasing
his own freedom? Did this provision of the Act also give this men power to
treat me, as a Nigerian, a Lawyer, or any other Citizen of the Earth in such
derogatory, disparaging and belittling manner?

If no, have I done anything worthwhile in calling the attention of the very
people being used as a smoke-screen to urgently curb the situation? Should
the issue of jurisdiction supersede the safety of lives? What is the
limitation of the Nigeria Police Force regarding Jurisdiction?
Sir, again, I write the above because one will reasonable believe that Sections
337 of Nigeria Police Regulation which states “Police Officers shall perform
such duties as may be assigned by the Inspector-General, or by an officer
authorized by the Inspector-General in that behalf” has been invoked. Then,
which of the Authorizing Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force which is with the
motto best in Africa sent these men? the good offices of Inspector-General of
Police or his Deputies as asserted by men with Patrol Van numbered NPF962D?

Every Police Officer is tied unless it is accepted as abandoned by combined

provisions of Sections 338 – 340 (a-f), 341- 342, and 343 (a-f) of the above
Regulation.

If that be the case sir, the Nigeria Police Force should appraise my plight in the
hands of these men who are either fake Police or a good example of worst
Policemen.

By the Interpretation Section which is in Part I, Section 2 (8th interpretation)

of POLICE ACT ‘“police officer” means any member of the FORCE’. Meaning
none in the Police Force is exempted including the Inspector-General of Police.
Why then was IGP number hidden in contacts of SENIOR POLICE OFFICERS
compiled by the FORCE MANAGEMENT TEAM?

MY PETITION:

My sole Petition sir, is that the Police should look deeply into this and
apologize to Nigeria for the way and mannered their precious lives and
properties had been handled by the FORCE.

Yours faithfully,

T. B. Ayodele, Esq.

[email protected]