EXCLUSIVE: Police IG Egbetokun Awards N6Billion Uniform Contract Split Into 66 Parts To ‘Inactive’ Firm With No BPP Tax Record

Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, awarded a N6 billion police uniform contract—divided into 66 smaller parts—to a company listed as 'inactive' by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Investigations by SaharaReporters revealed that the company, Messrs Crown Natures Nigeria Plc, has no tax compliance records on the Bureau of Public Procurement’s Federal Contractors Portal, despite being registered since March 10, 2006.

Further checks also showed that, although it is registered as a public limited company, Crown Natures Nigeria Plc is not listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and has not published any financial statements, as required by law.

As previously reported by SaharaReporters on Wednesday, the Inspector General allegedly awarded the entire N6 billion contract—split into 66 segments—to Crown Natures Nigeria Plc, a company reportedly linked to him, in apparent violation of the Public Procurement Act.

Documents exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters confirm the contract splitting and reveal that all the contracts were awarded to Messrs Crown Natures Nigeria Plc, a company registered under the names of Adedokun Olarotimi Aromolaran and Omolara Olufunke as directors.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Egbetokun diverted the N6 billion from the police operational account's budgetary sub-head into a private procurement arrangement for uniforms. 

The funds were funnelled to a single company through a process that violated procurement regulations.

“As IGP, his approval threshold is N100 million. Any amount above that requires ministerial approval, and anything exceeding N500 million must be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” one source explained, adding that the company is linked to Egbetokun.

To bypass these statutory procedures, Egbetokun resorted to contract splitting, which is prohibited under the Public Procurement Act. He divided the N6 billion uniform procurement into 66 separate contracts, all awarded to the same company, and began processing payments in instalments.

“The contracts were divided and awarded for similar tasks, which constitutes contract splitting—a clear violation of the Public Procurement Act,” a source said.

“It amounts to a gross abuse of the procurement process, even if police uniforms fall under restricted bidding,” the source added. 

“No single company should be awarded all the contracts once they’ve been split like that. If one contractor is to handle the entire production, it should be through a single, consolidated contract.”

Sources further revealed that when the IGP directed the Director of Finance and Accounts to approve an initial N2 billion tranche, the director raised objections and cautioned him about the legal implications. 

The DFA reportedly noted that it far exceeded the Inspector General of Police’s approval threshold of N100 million. However, sources disclosed that IGP Egbetokun overruled the concerns and insisted on the immediate disbursement of the controversial funds.

An internal police memo signed by Assistant Inspector General Adepoju A. Ilori (PAB) confirmed that the contractor applied for payments in accordance with the Public Procurement Act 2007 (as amended). 

However, IGP Egbetokun sidestepped statutory procedures by deliberately splitting the contract into 66 parts to bypass procurement regulations — a practice expressly prohibited by law.

Further investigation by SaharaReporters revealed that on December 6, 2024, the Nigerian police made 15 separate payments to Crown Natures Nigeria Plc for similar uniform supply contracts. The total amount disbursed on that single day was N989 million.

Sources familiar with the transaction explained that the contract splitting was a deliberate strategy to bypass open competitive bidding and circumvent the Inspector General’s N100 million approval threshold, raising serious concerns about transparency and accountability in procurement under Egbetokun’s leadership.

The award letters for some of the contracts carry references such as CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/715, CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/715, CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/715, CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/716, CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/719 and CQ:1200/DLS/PROC/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.13/719.

Each of the 66 contracts is valued between N45.7 million and N99.3 million—deliberately kept just below the N100 million threshold.

Descriptions of the items supplied include thousands of metres of Olive Green and Black (John Cross) materials for general distribution to various police commands across the South West, North Central, North West, and Kaduna State.

Some are listed as follows: Procurement of 7,600 Metres of Black (John Cross) Material for General Distribution to Kaduna State Command; Procurement of 5,700 Metres of Black (John Cross) Material for General Distribution; Procurement of 18,700 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 1; Procurement of 19,200 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 2; Procurement of 18,400 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 3; Procurement of 20,800 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 4; and Procurement of 21,000 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 5.

Others include Procurement of 22,500 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 7;       Procurement of 22,800 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 8; Procurement of 21,950 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 9; Procurement of 19,800 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 10 and Procurement of 21,000 Metres of Dark Grey Material for General Distribution to Commands within Zone 11.

Approval for the first tranche of N2 billion was documented in a memo dated April 2, 2024, from AIG Adepoju A. Ilori to the Director of Finance and Accounts (DFA), Police Formations and Commands, Force Headquarters, Abuja.

The memo titled, ‘RE: Payment Of N2,000,000,000.00 Τo Crown Natures Nigeria Plc Observation And Request For Authorization To Process For Payment,’ refers to “Inspector-General of Police’s approval on memo No. CH:3900/PB/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.7/37 dated 19th March 19, 2024 and your letter dated 28th March, 2024 on the above underlined subject matter”.

Ilori urged the DFA to “expedite action on the payment process as approved by the Inspector-General of Police to enable the contractor/manufacturer of the customized Police uniform for operational and regular use early delivery of the items”.