Two police officers dismissed from Kwara State Police Command have asked for a review of their cases for possible reinstatement into the force.
The officers; Akano Shola, a Sergeant, and Babatunde Glorious, a Corporal, respectively with 14 and 9 years of service with the police force said some top officers were allegedly hindering the free flow of investigation and prosecution of suspects apprehended by the command which led to their dismissal.
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In a petition jointly signed and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, dated July 20, 2020, with copies to the Assistant Inspector General, Zone 8, Lokoja; Kwara State Police Commissioner; Civil Liberties Organisation; Okun Development Association; and the media, they alleged that their dismissal could not be divorced from their refusal to allegedly bow to pressure from some senior officers to release some robbery suspects in their custody.
The dismissed officers, who called for open and transparent investigations into their detention and orderly room trial lasting for a period of 15 days, said some officers in the service “are benefiting from the activities of suspects.
“It is on record that sometime in December 2018; one Dr Omowumi AbdulRazak brought a complaint to the Public Complaint Bureau, Ilorin Command, that he was robbed of his car and other valuables at gunpoint.
“The undersigned and others were detailed to investigate the matter which led to the arrest of the duo of John Opagbile and Charles Oluwatuyi who were found to be in the habit of donning military camouflage shirts to dispossess unsuspecting citizens of their belongings at gunpoint.
“The suspects have since been charged to court for conspiracy, armed robbery, forgery, receiving stolen property and theft.
“When it became obvious that we would not accede to their request for terminating the case at the station, they requested through the said woman sergeant that the offence of ‘Armed Robbery’ be removed from the alleged offences with an offer of three million naira (N3,000,000) which we still refused,” they argued.
