From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A coalition of 259 anti-corruption, civil society and human rights groups, under the auspices of Coalition for Transparency and Economic Reforms (COTER) has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun, to order a comprehensive probe of the records of cheating officers and recommend necessary sanctions to be imposed on them.
The development, according to the coalition, has infuriated some retired colleagues of the cheating officers, resulting in inundated both the Police Service Commission and the office of the IGP with series of petitions, demanding justice.
The coalition, in a statement issued in Abuja, on Wednesday, equally expressed concerns that the refusal of some police officers overdue for retirement to quit the service is currently generating tension within the Nigeria Police Force.
COTER President Peter Chima Chukwu and General SecretaryMallam Auta Ibrahim Koko also urged the IGP to ensure the immediate exit of these cheating officers from the Police Force.
They equally demanded for immediate recovery of all the salaries and entitlements already paid these cheating officers during the period they have overstayed in the police force and disclose their identities of the cheating officers to serve as a deterrent to others.
“We urge the IGP to institute a comprehensive probe of this illegal, untoward and scandalous development in the Nigeria Police Force. We urge them to ensure that all those officers indicted are appropriately sanctioned. What they have been alleged to have done as police officers is appalling.
“So, we call on the police authorities not to spare any one of these cheating officers. In fact, we are calling on the IGP to immediately sack them from the Force. We believe, for the good of the Nigeria Police Force and the sake of posterity, the police authorities will not spare anyone of these cheating officers as a sacred cow.
“We commend your efforts, but we demand that all indicted officers must be appropriately punished in order to deter others from towing such ignoble path in the future. The cheating officers must also be made to refund every Kobo of the salaries and entitlements they have illegally collected from the Force,” the coalition emphasised in the petition.