A directive to Heads of units to contribute a total sum of N2, 120, 000 for the wedding ceremony of a son of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has triggered rumblings of discontent among senior police officers.
The IGP’s son, Maina Alkali Usman, will tie the nuptial knot with the woman of his heart’s desire on Saturday, January 29, in Maiduguri, Borno State, at a ceremony scheduled to last for three days.
Scudnews exclusively gathered that the IGP had planned for a low-keyed event, but the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, CP Ayuba Elkannah stirred the hornet’s nest when he allegedly requested all Heads of police units under his command to raise various amounts of money as contribution towards the ceremony.
The total amount levied the senior police officers allegedly amounted to N2, 120, 000.
A breakdown of the alleged levies for the wedding indicated that the Deputy Commissioners of Police, DCPs, in charge of the ‘B’ Operations Department and ‘D’ State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) are to cough out N100, 000 each, while five Assistant Commissioners of Police, ACPs, comprising Area Commanders, were allegedly taxed N50, 000 each.
Scudnews further learnt that 17 Divisional Police Officers in the state command were requested to generate N60, 000 each, while the two Police Mobile Force, PMF Squadrons, PMF 42 and PMF 78, were allegedly levied N100, 000 each.
Other units in the state police command allegedly levied included, Counter Terrorism Unit, CTU, N50, 000; Motor Traffic Department, MTD, N50, 000; Works, N50, 000; Transport, N50. 000; Anti Mining Unit, N50, 000; SHN N50, 000, and M/U N50, 000, while some other units including the Special Intelligence Bureau, SIB, Cooperative and MSS, among others, were allegedly levied N20, 000 each.
Sources at the Zamfara State police command headquarters alleged that the Commissioner of Police, CP Elkannah had justified levies for the wedding ceremony, claiming it was applicable in other police commands.
However, Scudnews could not independently verify the alleged claim. Checks at three police commands across the geopolitical zones including, Edo, Oyo, Anambra states indicated that there was no directive to that effect and there were no contributions for the wedding of the IGP’s son.
“There is nothing of such in my command. No, nobody asked us to contribute money for wedding of IGP’s son in Edo State. It was not even officially discussed. The CP levying officers for that wedding is just doing eye service”, a senior officer retorted in a telephone chat with a Scudnews reporter.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police who also spoke with Scudnews on condition of anonymity, said officers at the Oyo State police command were not levied for the event. “I got to know about the wedding on a Whatsapp platform of our course mates. That was where I saw the invitation card for the event”.
Interestingly, apart from the rumblings ignited by Maina’s wedding, senior police officers at the Zamfara State police command are also miffed over what they described as a “tax burden”.
“Officers were taxed to generate about N2million for the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in the CP’s office; even the allowances provided by the state governor for personnel of the command are taxed”, the officers alleged.
The aggrieved officers however described IGP Baba as a “very decent man”, who was not in the picture of the goings-on at the command.
Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police and Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, who was contacted by Scudnews on Tuesday, January 25, for an official reaction on the development promised to get back to our reporter shortly.
Two days after, he had yet to respond as of the time of filing this report.
Efforts made at reaching the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, CP Elkannah, were also unsuccessful.
