Six Police officers charged with fraud

Six pay officers of the Nigeria Police Force were on Thursday arraigned in Abuja for alleged conspiracy, forgery and fraudulent practices.

Spokesperson for the Police force ,Olusola Amore, issued a statement naming the accused as Enosegbe Friday, Comfort Aguacha, (an accountant), and James Njenobi, (an internal auditor). The officers all worked with the Abia State Command of the Force.

Mr Amore named others from the Ondo State Command were Joseph Awoyomi, Remi Rawa(auditor), and B. Ariyo, a varition officer.NEXT reported a shake-up in the Nigeria Police Force on Monday October 25 in which about 16 senior officers, including the organisation's PRO Emmanuel Ojukwu, were redeployed and another detained for tampering with officers' salaries.The redeployment affected eight deputy commissioners, three assistant commissioners (ACPs) and four CSPs.

According to police sources, a group of pay officers tampered with wage increases approved for each cadre of the police personnel, thereby stalling the salary payment process. The officers are accused of deducting up to N20,000 each from the salaries of junior colleagues, while the salaries of senior officers were muddled up in such a manner that it became difficult to confirm their actual take home pay.

Other states affected in the scam included Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Lagos.An officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said his salaries and allowances, including three-month arrears, were less than what his counterparts in Abuja and other parts of the country are earning. ‘‘Some of my colleagues in Abuja here have started writing their petitions that is why they invited some of the pay officers from about seven states, including Lagos State, to write statements." About three weeks later, on November 14, the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim reportedly held a meeting with police pay officers from all the commands. Mr. Ringim alleged that there had been massive fraud in the Police Force, however a task force has been subsequently set up to investigate the allegations .