Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu has removed six Commanding Officers of the Nigeria Police Force Mobile Personnel and Operations units attached to TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over allegations of running an extortion scheme against officers under their command.
SaharaReporters reports that the officers were quietly removed last week after an IGP-constituted investigative panel indicted them for illegally collecting ₦70,000 in monthly kickbacks from personnel deployed to secure the multinational oil company’s facilities.
Sources told the publication on Thursday that the disciplinary action followed an earlier SaharaReporters investigation that exposed widespread extortion, abuse of office and poor welfare conditions within the special duty deployment.
A source said the Force Headquarters initially struggled to get affected officers to speak openly during the investigation, out of fear. The IGP responded by setting up a panel from Abuja to probe the allegations following the newspaper’s report.
According to the source, personnel initially denied the extortion when the panel visited, but some officers later submitted documentary evidence to investigators after they returned to Abuja. That evidence led police authorities to remove all six commanding officers and replace them with new commanders.
The source added that officers used to collect the extortion money have been recommended for trial, though the sacked commanders are now lobbying to shield them from prosecution. The removed officers are expected to be demobilised from MOPOL and returned to conventional policing duties in various state commands.
Naija News recalls that SaharaReporters reported on June 8 that officers attached to TotalEnergies had accused their commanders of running an organised extortion racket. The operatives alleged that shortly after TotalEnergies approved an increase in special duty allowances, the six commanders ordered Special Duty Administrators to collect ₦70,000 from every officer monthly as compulsory “returns.”
One affected officer described how the allowance increase turned into another form of exploitation. After receiving ₦220,000 in new allowances the previous month, officers were reportedly ordered to return ₦70,000 each, with threats of removal from deployment for anyone who refused.
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