By Gideon Njoku
Ibrahim Ezekiel Sini, a Superintendent of Police, has given the Nigeria Police Force a reason to celebrate. In a Country where a few bad eggs in the Police have given Nigerians reasons to not trust the Police and to dismiss the otherwise hardworking and respectable institution as corrupt, SP Sini is a breath of fresh air.
The Officer looked a Lagos-based business tycoon, Akintoye Akindele, in the face, and literally told him to jump into the Lagos Lagoon with his bags of money.
Sini was in charge of a team put together by the Inspector General of Police to investigate a case against Akindele. While he was arraigned in August 2023 at the Federal High Court, Abuja, and remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, he sought for a way out. And as far as he was concerned, money talks, and there is no better way to use it than to buy over the Head of the IGP’s Investigative Team.
He, therefore, approached SP Sini, and offered him a whopping, mouth-watering sum of N150 million to do two things for him. One is to pave a way for him to escape from the Country. And the second is to write a compromised report in his favour. He tempted Sini and asked him if he didn’t want to be rich. To show seriousness, he dropped an initial N50 million for the Officer.
But Sini looked him in the eye and rejected the bribe money.
The businessman was alleged to have swindled Summit Oil International Ltd to the tune of $5,636,397, as well as N73,543,764. It is the petition written by the firm against him that the IGP asked Sini and his team to investigate.
Last Friday, a group of appreciative Nigerians, led by the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ben Igweh, organised a dinner in honour of SP Sini.
After all the Commendation, the Officer was given already processed paper for a plot of land in Abuja.
According to CP Igwe, Sini has brought honour to the NPF.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vegas Homes, Prince Chukwuemeka Okoye, who was one of the organisers of the dinner, agreed with CP Igwe. He described Sini’s conduct as exemplary which has brought honour to himself and the NPF.
Speaking, a delighted and appreciative Sini said he rejected the bribe in order to have a peace of mind, and uphold his family’s name as well as to keep the integrity of the NPF.
He said: “I am very happy to be here and I want to appreciate the organisers of this programme. They have beat my imagination and they have added more grease to my elbow.
“Yes, I remember when the incident happened, the person in question asked me: ‘Do you want to be rich? He said, this is an opportunity for you to be rich.
“So what I said was that it depends on the kind of riches. I would like to have money that I can lay my head down and sleep at night. I don’t want to have something that will make me think twice and be running from one hole to another. So, I would like to do justice and have peace of mind.
“So, I decided to do the right thing so that I can have peace of mind and also stand to do what is right for myself, for my organisation, that is, the Nigeria Police, and also for the country at large.”
Not a few people said they would recommend SP Sini for not only a recognition by the IGP, a special promotion to the next rank by the Police Service Commission, but a National Honour by President Bola Tinubu.
