BREAKING: Nigerian Police IG Egbetokun Deploys 1,000 Ondo Officers To Lagos For LG Election, Demands N39,000 From DPOs For Transport

The Nigeria Police Force has directed the Ondo State Police Command to deploy 1,000 personnel to Lagos State ahead of the forthcoming local government elections.

According to an official police wireless message dated July 9, 2025, and signed by the Commissioner of Police, Department of Operations (COMPOL DOPS), Akure, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) issued the directive to support security arrangements for the elections in Lagos.

The communication, marked DTO:091130/07/2025, was addressed to the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DECOMPOL), State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), all Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPOLs), Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), and Heads of Departments (HODs) in Ondo State.

It ordered each division or unit to contribute a specific number of officers toward the 1,000-man deployment. Notably, the personnel are to be assembled and handed over for onward movement to Lagos by 6:00 p.m. today.

Among the divisions and units ordered to contribute officers are: Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) – 30 officers; Department of Operations (DOPS) – 40 officers; SCID – 40 officers; Various ACPOLs (Akure, Ondo, Okitipupa, Ore, Owo, etc.) – over 80 combined; ‘A’ and ‘B’ Divisions, Akure – 25 officers each and Special Units such as EOD (10), Transport (40), ICT (20), SPU (10), Band (17), Press Police (2), and others.

In addition to core operational units, supporting departments including Tailoring, Works, DLS Pay, CFO, and Veterinary Police (VETPOL) were also directed to contribute manpower.

The COMPOL DOPS also instructed CSP DOPS to lead the deployed officers and ensure strict compliance with the deployment order.

Meanwhile, controversy Trails Deployment Order as Police Commanders Allegedly Asked to Pay ₦39,000 Each for Lagos Election Duty

In a separate development, SaharaReporters obtained another police message instructing that Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) to make personal payments to support the deployment operation.

The urgent message, sent by a senior officer, was marked with multiple warnings — “URGENT! URGENT!! URGENT!!!” — and instructed each DPO to transfer ₦39,000 to a First Bank account provided in the message.

“Each DPO to forward the sum of #39,000:00 each to my FBN account number on or before 0900hrs tomorrow 10/07/2025 unfailingly,” the message read.

DPOs were also directed to send proof of payment “immediately” after making the transfer, with a request to acknowledge receipt of the instruction.

Although the message did not specify the purpose of the requested funds, sources informed SaharaReporters that the Inspector General of Police had instructed each division to contribute ₦39,000 to cover transportation costs for deploying personnel to Lagos.

“The IG ordered that 1,000 police personnel from Ondo State should go to Lagos State for the Local Government election on Saturday and he said each division should pay N39,000 naira for the transport,” one of the sources said.

“Is it the police DPOs that are supposed to fund their transport? Is it supposed to come from their poor salary or does he want them to steal it?”

Funding Crisis in Police Force

In June, SaharaReporters reported that Egbetokun was overseeing a police force being fuelled by corruption due to the complete absence of statutory allocations for the first two quarters of the year.

Several senior officers within the police force told SaharaReporters that, so far in 2025, no funds had been released for the routine operations of commands and departments, describing it as an unprecedented situation in the NPF’s history.

They explained that police commands and departments had not received the statutory quarterly allocations essential for running their offices and maintaining critical services. According to them, this shortfall had pushed them to depend on money obtained through extortion and other corrupt practices to keep police stations functioning.

Egbetokun’s leadership, they said, was presiding over a force that was “operating and thriving on corruption.”

“We are in June, and no police command in the country has received any statutory allocation, whether capital or recurrent. This has never happened before,” a top police officer said. “Even the public can imagine how police commands have managed to function all this while—it can only be through corruption and illicit funds taken from innocent members of the public.”

Another senior officer added: “I am telling you with all authority that nothing has been paid. It is a sad and terrible development. It has never happened before now.”

Typically, the commands receive around N4 million every three months as part of their statutory budget to cover administrative functions and basic operations.

Also, in June, a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, decried the dire state of funding and welfare in the police force.

He lamented that police divisions operate on as little as N30,000 monthly while officers endure deplorable living conditions, including sleeping inside exhibit vehicles at police stations.

In an interview with News Central TV’s Breakfast Central programme, Owoseni, who was visibly angry, criticised what he described as the appalling neglect of police welfare by the Nigerian leaders who, despite the realities, dared to “shamelessly” demean officers.

“You have a Divisional Police Officer like in Ikeja Police Division that has an area of responsibility so large, and what you use to fund that police division is N30,000, to do what?” Owoseni asked.

He painted a grim picture of the daily struggles of rank-and-file officers.

“When you have a police system where an average constable has to stretch to feed, to buy his uniform,” he said.

“Where you have a policeman posted from Jigawa to Ikorodu in Lagos and there is no accommodation for him or anything, that sleeps inside exhibit vehicles in the police station.”

Owoseni condemned the hypocrisy of political leaders who criticise the physical appearance of officers without addressing the root causes.

“The people that rule us, that have the power, will come out shamelessly to say that policemen stink.

“How will that policeman not stink when he sleeps inside an exhibit vehicle [and wakes up] every morning.

“He looks for pure water [sachet water] because he has no family in Ikorodu, and he is transferred from Jigawa. So, where do you go from there?” he asked.

The Nigerian police system has long been plagued by reports of underfunding, poor infrastructure, and inadequate welfare for officers.