Amos Olaniyan who was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on 1″ August 1981 and rose to the rank of Sergeant on 1″ September 1993 has appealed to the new Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to reinstate him 30 years after he was verbally suspended from the Police.
Trouble started on 11 October 1994 when he and four other officers, SupolAbiodun Asabi, the late Inspector David Oloyede, Sergeant Joseph Akaah (deceased) and CPL David Okhurobo were on official patrol duties along Ibadan-Lagos Shagamu Express Road when we had a punctured tyre without any spare.
He narrated to TheNEWS: “The official signal for the said patrol is with me. As we were stranded, a good Samaritan who recognised our team leader, Supol Abiodun Asabi (ASP by then) saw us, stopped and gave Asabi N1,250.0 to buy a fairly used tyre for the patrol vehicle.”
About 20 minutes later, the late Mr Augustins (later Abubakar) Tsav who was the Oyo State Police Commissioner passed by and stopped when he saw the patrol team. “He searched us and nothing was found on us, like money, he decided to search the patrol vehicle and Supol Abiodun Asabi told him that he had money in the front seat,” Olaniyan explained.
The four men were junior officers who were tried in the orderly room trial and discharged and acquitted at Zone 2, Onikan Lagos. The adjudicating officer at Zone 2, Onikan by then is Mr M.A Yusuf (SP) Superintendent of Police but retired as Deputy Commissioner of Police (D.C.P).
Olaniyan lamented further: “I have the proceeding of the said orderly room trial with me. Apart from being discharged and acquitted, Sir Ogun State Police Command wrote a report to the Inspector General of Police IGP in Abuja in 2011, we were also exonerated. Since then four of us have been suspended verbally without any official documentation or signal. But the team leader Supol Abiodun Asabi (ASP) by then, now Assistant Inspector The General of Police (AIG) Presently Commandant Police Staff College, Jos was not suspended.”
Since then, Olaniyan has been begging that he be reinstated. In his words: “I wrote to former President Olusegun Obasanjo five times, nothing happened. But when I wrote to the late President Umaru Yar’adua, his directive to the Inspector General of police was not carried out. TGP was resistant to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It’s a shame. I wrote to distinguished Senate President, Senator David AB Mark GCON, and his reply is with me, nothing was done by the Police authorities. Later, I wrote through Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola MFR to Senator (Dr) Bukola Saraiki who later invited me through the Senate’s Ethic privilege and public petition committee in Abuja. I was invited by Senator Samuel I. Anyanwu from Imo East and my case was thoroughly investigated and Senate concluded that this was injustice and I should be called back, promoted with my mates.”
Almost all of his mates retired as Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP) while the majority was retired as Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Olaniyan complained further: “The Senate Resolution of that investigation is with me, and they gave the Police authority two weeks on 15 December 2015, but till today nothing has been done. Thirty years now, I am begging to be reinstated. Professor Itsay Sagay (SAN) wrote on my behalf to the IGP Inspector General of Pollice, but no reply to date. I met Her Excellency Senator Oluremi Tinubu at the National Assembly in Abuja. She promised to inform her husband of my predicament. But now her husband is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 2018, Senator Solomon O Adeola wrote a series of reminder letters to Police authorities about my predicament. Nothing happened.”
Olaniyan further wrote to the United Nations Organization through Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard, but no result. The National, The Punch, Vanguard Online, Saharareporters and others, wrote about the issue. “Radio Faajl 106.5 FM carried my predicament twice in their Ladugbomi programme, with no result. My team leader AIG Abiodun Asabi is still on duty, but will soon retire.
Olaniyan is begging the First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu to inform her husband, President Bola Hamed Tinubu, Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, to set up a Panel of enquiring on his case.
Since he was suspended, life has been excruciating for Olaniyan. “My only son whom I gave school fees lost it and poisoned himself (but survived). My first daughter wrote and passed the WAEC, JAMB, and UTME exams but was denied admission to study medicine. My wife abandoned me and followed another man from my church when I was seriously sick. My three daughters got married impromptu. I cannot perform the fatherly role, because I joined Nigeria Police with injustice meted on me by Pollice authorities.”
Olaniyan also appealed to the human rights community to step into his matter.
See relevant documents below: