Police committee members, chairman clash over alleged fraud

S Some members of the Police Community Relations Committee have called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to probe the National Chairman of the committee, Mogaji Olaniyan, for allegedly misappropriating a sum of N60m.

The aggrieved PCRC members, including the National Welfare Secretary, Ngozi Dahiru, and an aide to the chairman, Kolade Abayomi, lamented that a previous petition submitted to the IG on the same matter had not been attended to.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the PCRC members had in July 2023 petitioned the IG, alleging Olaniyan of misappropriating about N60,325,000 and $300, being funds realised from registration of members and issuance of identity cards, among others.

In the petition, Dahiru accused Olaniyan of embezzling N29m, which was realised from the registration of 3,957 PCRC members for identity cards, and another N13m generated through an election conducted in 14 states of the federation.

Dahiru, through her counsel, Omeiza Ibrahim, also accused the National Working Committee of the PCRC of failing to account for the sum of N3m realised from a capacity-building programme in Borno/Yobe.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH on Thursday, Dahiru called on the IG to act on the petition in the interest of justice.

Dahiru’s counsel, Ibrahim, who also spoke in a telephone interview, said, “In 2023, we submitted a petition to the IG regarding the misdeeds of some national officers within the PCRC. Despite our reminders, we have yet to receive a satisfactory response.”

Ibrahim said the PCRC NWC established a panel to investigate the allegations, adding that the committee produced a report that implicated the national chairman.

Also speaking, Abayomi supported the fraud allegation against his principal, disclosing that he had reported him to the police.

“I went to the police to report the injustice that was done to me by him (Olaniyan),” he said.

Dismissing the allegations, Olaniyan said the accusations against him were unfounded, adding that Dahiru was on a vendetta mission because she fell out of favour due to her perceived untrustworthiness.

Olaniyan also stated that the nine-man committee had cleared him of any misappropriation.

He said his aide, Abayomi, was facing a criminal case for allegedly diverting N18m.

“Abayomi embezzled money and used it for a wedding and to buy a vehicle,” he alleged.


The national working committee also refuted Dahiru’s allegation, describing it as frivolous.

In a statement, the Assistant National Publicity Secretary of the PCRC, Muhammed Sale, said she was resentful and frustrated with the committee because she was not appointed as the Coordinator of the PCRC National Women Committee.

Speaking on the matter, the Chairman of the nine-man committee, Sodiq Wada, said the allegation of fraud against Olaniyan was not true.

“I led the committee and we carried out an investigation and found that he hadn’t embezzled any money,” he stated.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said he was not aware of the petition.

He said, “Who wrote the petition? She wrote a petition to the IG. I don’t know. Do you have a copy of the petition?”

Our correspondent sent a purported copy of the petition to him and did not get a response as of the time of filing this report.