MUSTAPHA Adebayo Balogun, Nigeria’s former inspector-general of police (IGP), died on August 4, 2022. However, his eight properties in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are still alive.
Mr Balogun’s eight properties at Marsa Dubai and Lake City are estimated at $1.4 million, according to Economy Post’s calculations.
This investigation came to light as part of a project named ‘Dubai Unlocked,’ which is a six-month investigation into the UAE’s booming and secretive property market led by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) together with more than 70 media partners. Economy Post is the only Nigerian media organisation which participated in the investigation.
Late Mr Balogun was a controversial IGP, the 11th on the list, who replaced Musiliu Smith in March 2002.
Writer Chris Agambu narrated that Mr Balogun took police officers’ training seriously as IGP and also ensured regular payment of salaries and allowance. However, he said, things went wrong when he became a god at Louis Edet House – the police headquarters in Abuja.
“The erstwhile IGP, then started running a one man show at the Loius Edet Force Headquarters Abuja, as ideas and suggestions of his able lieutenants were jettisoned, and it became a glorified management team,” he noted.
“No contribution from them and constant interference in their departments became the order of the day. At their so called management team meetings, Tafa’s directive whether good or bad was final as no D.I.G ever challenged such decisions and this did not go down well with the offices and rank and file of the entire force.”
Mr Agambu said fraternising with all manner of people in the society did not help Mr Balogun and the police under him, as keeping to time for appointments and assignments became an issue.
“The role of the police in the 2003 general elections was also the climax of it all, as Nigerians rose in unison to call for the removal of Balogun as the IGP. But inspite of the intense criticism, the former police boss rose stoutly to defend the police for being able to perform the wonderful feat of transiting from one civilian government to another, which had never happened in the history of Nigeria.
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“He was also quick to brand his opponents as detractors who wanted to bring down the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo. It is his close affinity with the seat of power that gave him so much confidence that nobody could remove him from office until 2007.”
Corrupt man chasing corrupt officers
Tafa sacked over 1,200 police officers for various acts bordering on official corruption in his three-year tenure. But he never knew that he would soon become a toast himself. On April 4, 2005, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Nuhu Ribadu arraigned him at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on various criminal charges involving about N13 billion. He was accused of crimes such as money laundering and theft, among others.
Mr Balogun knew he stole money. So, he quickly entered a plea bargain with the court in exchange for returning a number of the properties and money. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, which he served partly at the National Hospital, like other “big men.”
How can a police officer buy 8 properties?
It is amazing how Mr Balogun was able to acquire 8 Dubai properties as a police officer. As at 2002 when Tafa Balogun was IG, his annual salary was less than N3 million. Assuming that the value of his properties was $700,000 (50 percent less) then, it would have amounted to N98 million (N140/$ then). This means it would have taken Mr Balogun 33 years to purchase those properties assuming that his salary was the same for the 33- year period.
But police officers can’t be on the same salaries throughout their careers. Just like other IGPs, Mr Balogun rose through the ranks. He was principal staff officer to former IGP Muhammadu Gambo. He was deputy commissioner of police in Edo State and commissioner of police in Rivers, Delta and Abia states. He was appointed assistant IGP before becoming the IGP.
Weed corruption out of police
It is obvious that the Nigerian government is not aware of Mr Balogun’s Dubai properties, or they are but pretend not to know. Analysts have advised the Nigerian government to confiscate such properties and weed out corruption from the police and other military/ paramilitary outfits.
“A recent report by BusinessDay from Economy Post documents has shown that there is a need to pay attention to what happens in the force. The EFCC must wake up to its job as it did during Nuhu Ribadu time and stop corruption in the force,” said a Lagos-based human rights activist and lawyer, Mr Kayode George.
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“The fact that we still have terrorism even with all the military and paramilitary expenditure is enough reason for the EFCC to investigate them,” he added.
An Abuja-based security expert, Momodu Alban, said corruption was everywhere in the public life, but he noted that Nigeria was enabling it.
“Think about this, why do we still have plea bargains in our legal system? Why should someone who has stolen public funds decide to admit stealing so as to get a lower sentence? A thief is a thief and should go to jail and return what they have stolen, period,” Alban further said.
