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December 19, 2022
A signal exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters dated December 12, 2022, revealed that some of the aggrieved officers from Delta State Command had been dismissed.
Some junior officers in the Nigeria Police Force have condemned the sacking of their colleagues by the authorities.
SaharaReporters had reported that about 24 police officers from the Delta State Command who covered the July 16 governorship election in Osun State were dismissed from the service.
They were sacked for accusing the authorities of withholding their allowances during the election.
Others were also demoted to junior ranks for similar reasons.
“Police just dismissed and demoted up to 40 personnel for fighting for their right during Osun election. The government gave the authorities money to share for the personnel on special duty but they refused to share the money to them, so they protested against this action and demanded their benefits,” one of the sources, a senior police officer in Delta State had told SaharaReporters.
In July, some officers posted to Osun state for the governorship election accused the authorities of withholding their allowances.
“We ought to have been paid our allowances the moment we were deployed to secure the governorship election in Osun State but those who were supposed to pay us said we should wait till Sunday when the election would have ended,” one of the aggrieved officers was quoted as saying.
But Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, said their banks caused the delay and that the allegation was “misleading and unfounded”.
Adejobi said contrary to the claims made by the officers, some of those who were deployed for the election started receiving their entitlements before the election began.
A signal exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters dated December 12, 2022, revealed that some of the aggrieved officers from Delta State Command had been dismissed.
Speaking to SaharaReporters on Monday, one of the leaders of the aggrieved officers condemned the action of the police authorities.
He said, “Junior officers of Nigeria Police plan mass action over the non-implementation of outstanding salary arrears and planned dismissal of fellow officers on the allegations of mutiny.
“Police have a shortage of manpower already and the security situation of the country is very precarious. Dismissing officers now that officers are being hunted across the country is dangerous to the serving members.
“If those officers are dismissed, they may join criminal gangs as they are already trained to handle firearms. We can't afford to be losing our serving members because of the insensitivity of the police hierarchy
“Failure of the authority to rescind their actions on planned dismissal of our men and also implementation of the salary arrears, we shall embark on protest.”