SHAMEFUL:
‘I Have Never tasted Alcohol in my LIFE, I was not Drunk, only playing with empty Beer bottles’-Dismissed Nigerian Policeman, KADIMA USENI, Mobile Force Squadron 22 Base Ikeja
…Says: ‘It was a set up against me. I was secretly recorded without my knowledge’
*Lament: ‘Police higher authority want to ruin my life. I am not lying. My Force Number is 176219. I seized the empty beer bottles from some Police officers’ children’
BY TITILAYO ODUNLAMI/CRIME REPORTER, LAGOS
A NIGERIAN Policeman, KADIMA USENI has raised issues with Nigerian Police Force authority over his dismissal for been allegedly drunk while on duty. The 42 year old officer with force number 176219 attached to Mobile Force Squadron 22 Base, Ikeja, Lagos lament that he was set up in a secret video footage without his knowledge by higher officers from the office of The Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The reportedly drunk policeman caught on camera around Akowonjo, Dopemu area of Lagos State, and was dismissed by the Police authorities few days ago. Kadima has said he does not take alcoholic drinks, but only seized the said bottle from some Police officers’ children. A video footage showed Useni holding an alcoholic drink bottle which had gone viral on social media.
Another police officer close to the dismissed officer said: “Kadima had been lamenting to his former colleagues saying he was set up by Lagos Police Commissioner monitoring team, secretly recorded without his knowledge. He is still claiming he had never tasted alcohol in his life. He had been sober and remorseful.”
In the words of Kadima: “I only collected a bottle from the children of police officers, who were carrying it. Later, I returned it. It didn’t occur to me that I was been videoed, while I held the bottle.”
But a Police source said: “The Inspector-General, Ibrahim Idris, directed the state Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, to fish out the erring policeman for appropriate disciplinary action. When the erring policeman was eventually fished out, he denied drinking. He was looking very sober and remorseful, still claiming he does not drink alcohol.”
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of Lagos State Police Command, CSP Chike Oti, said when the officer was arrested and during interrogation, he affirmed that he was the one in the video.
He said: “He was, therefore, tried in an orderly room trial and summarily dismissed to serve as a deterrent to others.” Oti added that Edgal also directed the officer in charge of the Command Provost Section to identify and shut all beer parlours within the Police community in the state to prevent re-occurrence.
#Additional reports by Vanguard Newspaper
