Breaking: Police Enforce Retirement Of Officers Implicated In Forgery, Age Falsification

The Nigeria Police Force has fully authorized the retirement of all officers implicated in forgery, age falsification, and circumvention of service regulations to extend their tenure beyond the mandatory retirement date.

A police wireless message dated February 10, 2025, and addressed to all zonal commands and departments referenced the decision taken by the Police Service Commission (PSC) at its 1st Extraordinary Meeting of the 6th Management Board.

Naijaonpoint gathered that the decision focused on the regularization of the first appointment dates of Cadet ASPs and Inspector force entrants.

The memo, with reference number CH:8400/FS/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.2/294, directed the full implementation of the PSC’s directives, stating: “Re: Police Service Commission decision at its 1st Extraordinary Meeting of the 6th Management Board on the regularization of date of first appointment of Cadet ASPs/Inspectors force entrants X INGENPOL firmly directs you proceed with full implementation of POLSCOM directives.”

This directive follows an earlier intervention by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, who had halted the retirement of senior officers who had exceeded 35 years in service or were above the age of 60.

A letter dated February 1, 2025, signed on behalf of the IGP by CP Bode Akinbamilowo, Deputy Force Secretary, had instructed affected officers, including Simon Lough, SAN, Head of the NPF Legal Section, and Benneth Igweh, former Federal Capital Territory Police Commissioner, to proceed on immediate retirement.

PSC’s Final Directive On Retirement

The PSC’s decision was communicated to the IGP in a letter dated January 31, 2025, signed by its Secretary, Nnamani Onyemuche. The directive emphasized in paragraphs 3 and 4 stated, “Accordingly, the Commission at its 1st Extraordinary Meeting of the 6th Management Board held on Friday 31st January 2025 has approved the immediate retirement of those officers who have spent 35 years in service and those above 60 years of age.”

It further added, “Any omission discovered subsequently on this issue also falls within this approval.”

Paragraph 5 directed, “Please implement, inform the affected officers, and make replacement for the vacancies thereafter immediately and forward to the commission for its consideration and approval.”

Egbetokun’s Temporary Suspension of Retirement Directive

However, on February 5, 2025, a police signal obtained by SaharaReporters revealed that Egbetokun had put the retirement directive on hold.

The signal read: “POLICE SERVICE COMMISSION DECISION AT ITS 1ST EXTRA ORDINARY MEETING OF THE 6TH MANAGEMENT BOARD ON THE REGULARIZATION OF DATE OF FIRST APPOINTMENT OF CADET ASPS/INSPECTORS FORCE ENTRANTS X REF. MYLET CH:8400/FS/FHQ/AB3/VOL.2/292 DATED 1ST FEBRUARY 2025 X INGENPOL STRONGLY DIRECTS X YOU STAY ACTION ON LET UNDER REF X PENDING FURTHER DIRECTIVE.”

A source told SaharaReporters that the new directive by the police chief followed an order from President Bola Tinubu’s presidency.

“They have stopped the retirement of these senior officers. The order came from the Villa. The Villa told them to stop the retirement. Imagine, all this came after those affected have been given their retirement letters. This new signal from the IGP came today that the action should be put on hold,” a police source said.