IGP Orders Investigations As Inspector Dies In Police Cell 

Inspector Taiye Atobaloye, with force number 232980, has died in Police Custody after he was detained for being absent from work. 

The late Officer was on Quick Intervention special duty from Oke-Onigbin Divisional Headquarters, Kwara State, to the Zone 8 Command Headquarters, Lokoja. He was alleged to have missed work for days only to resurface in a drunken state and subsequently punished for his absence from duty.

Although the circumstances surrounding his death are unknown, the deceased Officer’s wife, Oluwabukola Atobaloye, claimed that he was tortured to death in the cell.

“Details from the Zonal Headquarters report showed that the Inspector was posted on the 1st of April, 2023, reported on the 11th of April and was immediately posted as part of the team manning the main gate of the Zonal Command Headquarters. However, he failed to report at the duty post and went missing in action for nine days, only to resurface on the 19th of April in a drunken state. He was eventually defaulted and detained for absence from duty and drunkenness. While on detention, he reportedly took ill and was moved to the Police Clinic, then referred to the Federal Medical Centre Lokoja, where he eventually gave up the ghost,” the Force Spokesperson, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, CFR, therefore, directed the Criminal Investigation Department’s Homicide Unit, Kogi State Command, to commence investigations and conduct a post-mortem examination on the corpse to determine the cause of his death.

He commiserates with the families, friends and loved ones of the deceased.