IGP Orders Probe Of Inspector’s Death In Kogi Police Custody

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has ordered a probe into the death of a police inspector, Taiye Atobaloye, who reportedly died while being detained at the ‘D’ Division of the Kogi State Police Command.

The spokesperson of the police force, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement released.

Taiye who was attached to the Oke Onigbin Police Division, Kwara State, was posted to the Zone 8 Police Command, Lokoja, on special duty.

However, the policeman declined the posting after a disagreement at the division that another inspector was originally meant for the assignment.

After his attempt to reverse the deployment failed, he reported at the zonal headquarters for special duty and was detained in a cell for absence from work without permission. He allegedly died while in the detention cell.

Mr Adejobi stated that the matter will be thoroughly investigated and that justice would be served in the matter.

“Details from the zonal headquarters report showed that the inspector was posted on the 1st of April, 2023, reported on the 11th of April and was immediately posted as part of the team manning the main gate of the zonal command headquarters.

“He failed to report at the duty post and went missing in action for nine days, only to resurface on the 19th of April in a drunken state.

“He was eventually defaulted and detained for absence from duty and drunkenness. While in detention, he reportedly took ill and was moved to the police clinic, then referred to the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, where he eventually gave up the ghost.

The Inspector-General of Police while commiserating with the families, friends and loved ones of the deceased, has tasked the Criminal Investigation Department’s Homicide Unit of the Kogi State Command to commence investigations and conduct a postmortem examination on the corpse in order to determine the cause(s) of his death.” he said.