“He died at the Teaching Hospital, Benin Edo State, this morning after a brief Illness."
An Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in Nigeria, Zone 5, Benin, Lawan Jimeta Tanko, is dead.
The zone comprises Edo, Delta and Bayelsa.
Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil confirmed his death in a terse WhatsApp message on Sunday.
He said: “Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un. With a heavy heart but total submission to the will of Almighty Allah, I wish to announce the death of A.I.G Lawan Tanko Jimeta
“He died at the Teaching Hospital, Benin Edo State, this morning after a brief Illness.
“To Allah we belong and to him we shall return, a real departure of a Godly man.”
The deceased was a graduate of English Language from the University of Maiduguri and also had a master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the National Open University.
He took over his appointment as AIG Zone 5, on January 13, 2022.
He was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police, March 3, 1990 and served the police in various capacities.
He served as a Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), Maroko Police Division, Lagos, and Victoria Island Police Division, Barbeach, Lagos, from 1998 to 2005.
He served as the Second-In-Command, Zonal Criminal Investigation Department, Zone 7 in Abuja, from 2011 to 2012.
Lawan Tanko Jimeta was named Area Commander in Suleja, Niger State, at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Six months before Jimeta’s inauguration, on Christmas Day in 2011, a terrorist group targeted Madalla in the Suleja District, killing more than 30 congregants of St. Theresa Catholic Church after mass.
Jimeta was the Area Commander in Suleja at the time.
Some other positions he held include Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Zone 7 of the Nigeria Police; Commissioner of Police, Central Criminal Registry, FCIID, Abuja; and Commissioner of Police, Police Mobile Force, COMPOL MOPOL. He also served as Commissioner of Police in Edo and Bauchi states.