Andy Ezeani
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
A man appointed newly to the height of a prime public office in Nigeria is often like a young man in love. He can promise anything. Floating on the wings of such euphoric stimulus, a man can even promise to get U.S. President Donald Trump to drop his obsession with tariffs.
Mr. Olatunji Disu, the newly appointed Inspector General of Police, is in that ethereal mode at the moment. Elevated by President Bola Tinubu to the prime station of Nigeria’s Police honcho on February 24, 2026, Disu,59 years of age, is justifiably in a high spirit.
It does not matter that he has just assumed an office which, from its recent records, is not exactly the epitome of integrity or purposeful commitment to honest protection of the safety and interest of ordinary citizens.
Forget about the Police being your friend. That mantra is nothing but a gimmick, going by every day experience of everyday people, under the recent police leadership in the country.
Anyway, on his assumption of office days back, IGP Disu’s first statement of action was a promise to Nigerians that “the era of impunity is over”. What a wonderful country it would be, if the new police top gun had such a wand and steadfastness to live up to his promise.
It bears remembering, though, that the last time Nigerians heard on an inauguration day that something was gone, what followed was grief. That is, by the way.
For the new IGP’s words to hold any value, they have to go beyond symbolism. It is not about a declaration of intent. It should be about the reality of the everyday life of Nigerians, especially the majority without one leverage in political power or another. Fairness demands, however, that Disu be given the benefit of the doubts.
Nigeria is the global headquarters of impunity in public offices and the present government is its mascot. So where will Disu start?
At about the time that Disu was being elevated to the office of IGP, various acts of impunity and disdain for the law were playing out across the country, as they do every day.
In one of the cases, a rather bizarre but common type of situation in Nigeria, a minister of the Federal Republic, specifically, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi was, and is still entangled with a lady, Tracy Nicholas Ohiri, who alleged that Chief Umahi has been owing her for over a decade, for a job delivered but not paid for.
Minister Umahi has gone through two tenures as governor of Ebonyi State but simply refused to redeem the debt, according to the allegation.
Why will he not pay a debt incurred in good faith? Because, according to the woman, he left the business transaction and started pursuing side attractions. When he couldn’t have his way, he became truculent and repudiated both the principal and the interest, as it were.
As unfortunate as this case may be, with Mrs. Ohiri reeling under the weight of the whopping N250 million debt she said she is being owed for commissioned electioneering supplies, majority of Nigerians would not have picked interest in the matter had Chief Umahi advanced a counter narrative or taken his case to the court and fought to clear his name the civil way.
That, however, is not how it has turned out. Reprehensibly, the Police, the institution that is supposed to ensure order and fairness in civil disputes reported to it, appear to have been procured to be the friend of one side in the dispute. As is often the case, the police is on the side of he who has the means.
The reported role of the Police in the Minister Umahi-Lady Tracy Ohiri business gone awry, represents not just a clear case of impunity, but a manifestation of the type of rot that IGP Disu must commit himself to combating if he truly desires to make a name for himself and not just make money on his seat.
Money will always be made, but the values of decency and fairness in society do not need to be sacrificed, not by an institution that ought to uphold sanity and justice.
Umahi reporting Mrs. Ohiri to the Police in Lagos for cyberbullying (whatever that really is) can be countenanced. Every citizen who feels offended or threatened has the right to duly report to the police for protection.
The police arresting the woman in Lagos and flying her to Abuja for arraignment marked the tipping point of the impunity and subversion of justice that the Police has come to be identified with.
The lady was duly arraigned in Abuja at the magistrate court in Wuse Zone 2. Fair enough. She pleaded not guilty. Subsequently, she was granted bail by the Chief Magistrate, Ope Ibrahim. Note that the issue is not even her money but her liberty.
If not for impunity and the assault on the values of justice by the Police, how did Commissioner of Police in charge of the former IGP Egbetokun’s Monitoring Unit, CP Akin Fakorode, take up the brief, as he is accused of, to the point of mobilizing as it were, to ensure that Mrs. Ohiri was not only kept in Police detention, in spite of her bail, but was given the Nnamdi Kanu treatment by moving her to a prison out of Abuja?
The more the police impunity in this matter deepens and the more the woman is oppressed, the more Minister Umahi looks like the guilty party. IGP Disu should bring this very impunity, and many others like it to a halt. Politicians should know when to cut loose from a bad case and save face.
Also at the same time that the new IGP was coming to office, a political meeting in Benin, Edo state by leaders of the African Democratic Party (ADC) at the house of former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cum former Governor John Odigie Oyegun, was attacked by gun men. At the meeting was Mr. Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, former presidential candidate in the 2023 election and presidential aspirant for the 2027 presidential election, as well as a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olumide Akpata, among other distinguished Nigerians.
The criminals shattered many car windscreens and pierced the gate of Chief Oyegun’s house with bullets. The intention to assassinate was obvious. Till date, one week after, there is no public report that the Police has issued any statements on the dastardly act.
Apparently encouraged by the curious disinterestedness of the police and other security agencies in the brazen attack on prominent citizens and political personalities days ago, another assault was launched at a political gathering in Benin again over the weekend.
At another ADC meeting at the residence of former Edo state governor and law professor, Oserheimen Osunbor, in Uruekpen, gun shots again shattered the vicinity and scattered the meeting. Once more, the Police is being awaited to say something. This is impunity bothering on a clear attempt to assassinate. IGP Disu, over to you.
