Commander Of Mobile Police Base In Oghara, Admin Officer In Financial Scam. SaharaReporters has learnt that two officials of
the Mobile Police base in Oghara, Ethiope East
local government area of Delta state, are mired
in deep trouble over serious allegations of
corrupt practices. At the center of the scandal
are the commander, CSP Sylvester Ozuofena, a
chief superintendent of police (CSP), and the
base’s administrative officer, Bala Yusuf, a
deputy superintendent of police (DSP). The two
officers are accused of defrauding their
subordinates of entitlements running into billions
of naira. One source said the two officers may
have been ordered to refund what they looted.
Sources at the base told our reporter that the
duo’s fraudulent practices were uncovered
following a series of petitions by rank and file
members of the base, commonly called MOPOL
Base 51.
Some of the junior officers who confided in our
reporter accused their boss, CSP Sylvester
Eziofono, of illegal deduction from their out-
station duty payments. Several of them insisted
that the illegal deductions totaled billions of
naira. They disclosed that a team of
investigators from police headquarters in Abuja,
who recently visited the base to investigate the
allegations, were stunned by the scale of the
two officers’ illicit financial activities.
Several rank and file officers said they were
delighted that the Inspector General of Police
decided to send a team to investigate the two
officers. They told SaharaReporters that similar
petitions they wrote to past IGs were never
addressed.
“Because the petitions we forwarded to the
former IGs did not see the light of the day, the
commander and admin officer continued to do
what they were doing,” said one source. “Now
we are expecting that the team that Abuja sent
will uncover the truth and ensure that these
officers face the music.”
Several sources said the investigating team from
Abuja stormed the base and arrested the
administration officer, DSP Bala Yusuf, and
handcuffed him. “Having seen that the game
was up, DSP Yusuf started crying and started
confessing that he was not alone in the crime.
Without wasting time, he named the
Commander, CSP Sylvester Eziofono, as the
prime suspect,” another source disclosed.
Numerous officers narrated their ordeal at the
hands of the commander. In the words of a
sergeant, “We the rank and file are really
suffering in the hands of these senior officers
overseeing our day to day activities. We are over
200 MOPOL [mobile police] posted to guide
banks, companies, corporate organizations, VIPs
and others. But the painful and lamenting thing is
that whenever we are paid our money, which is
not given to us directly [but] rather to our
commander, he will now deduct 70-80 percent
from the money and we will be given peanuts at
the end of the day.”
The source added: “It might interest you to know
that when the investigating team from Abuja
came they were shocked to their bone marrow at
the colossal corruption.”
Several sources said the commander and his
cohorts had defrauded officers of billions of
naira.
“It is after the investigation team arrested and
handcuffed the administrative officer, DSP Bala
Yusuf, that he now confessed that the
commander was the main one involved in the
scam,” said the source.
Another officer, who gave details of being
cheated out of his allowances, rhetorically
asked, “Now tell us why won’t our spirits be
down when all these fraudulent practices are still
been perpetrated by some of the bad eggs in
the force.” He added that the investigating team
from Abuja has asked the rogue cops to refund
monies they illegally deducted. SaharaReporters
could not ascertain whether the police
investigators from Abuja found the bank
accounts where the officers lodged their loot.
Some of the officers who spoke to us called on
the Federal Government to look into the total
welfare of junior officers in the force. They
asserted that the issue of illegal deduction was
not peculiar to the base in Oghara, but happens
across the police formation in Delta State where
police officers are assigned to guard facilities as
well as highly connected individuals. “We are
faced with the issue of monkey dey work and
baboon dey eat,” said one of the defrauded
police men.
A correspondent of SaharaReporters made
efforts to contact the embattled commander.
However, he refused to respond to the SMS sent
to him and did not answer calls to his mobile
telephone number.
On the other hand, the admin officer spoke to
our reporter on the phone. But after denying that
any fraud occurred, he added that he has a lot
to say on the issue but would await permission
from the state police public relations officer
(PPRO), Charles Muka, a deputy superintendent
of police.
Contacted by our correspondent, Mr. Muka
debunked all the allegations, but swiftly blamed
“disgruntled elements.” “The issue at hand is
been orchestrated by some disgruntled elements
in the base,” said the police spokesman, adding
that such stories give the police a bad image.
Meanwhile, our reporter gathered that the
embattled commander and the admin officer
have been transferred out of the base. A police
source said the two men “have been asked to
report at the force headquarters [in Abuja], while
new officers from Niger State have been told to
take over from them pending the completion of
investigations.”

Na today you know say saharareporters dey lie?all there reports are lies,saharareporters is just an alarmist news network who specialises in spreading bad news and lies,they shouldn't be taking seriously.

The Officer in question is my childhood friend and we graduated together from the university, I just called him on phone and he denied all the trash Sahara reporters wrote, infact I suggest he sue their a*s*s

The headline got me laughing so hard . . .

@OP . .No be today . . .the sahara junkies are known to release and emit cooked up stories and lies with reckless abandon . . .

but wait ooh!! You dey sure say your guy dey innocent

13volts: The Officer in question is my childhood friend and we graduated together from the university, I just called him on phone and he denied all the trash Sahara reporters wrote, infact I suggest he sue their a*s*s

I'm sure he's receiving ur kal from prison. Don't worry, he would still confirm it for you.

But actually if all that happens in everyday nigeria is reported in the media,the world will run amok.Alot hideous things happen in nigeria that doesn't even go past villages,talkless of local governments,cities,local media and the web.

Nigerians are so intuned to the chaos that it doeesn't even make any difference to them.

I just spoke with him, he was not arrested nor handcuffed. A petition was written against him by a Coperal, the allegations investigated and found to be misleading and mischievous and subsequently thrown away.

You still listen to saharareporters? Those people can tell you that your name was changed last night without your consent. They lost the little credibility they have a long time ago.

13volts: The Officer in question is my childhood friend and we graduated together from the university, I just called him on phone and he denied all the trash Sahara reporters wrote, infact I suggest he sue their a*s*s

U are more than funny.So u are expecting him 2 say:'my brother its true o',I actually stole dose monies'.
Childhood friend kor,adult brother ni

"billions of naira" from a mopol unit ? not even the state command or the entire country. The reporter is mentally ill.

When they reported Yar Adua in hospital that was the way we said they were lying.

They reported Sylva was screened out of bayelsa race we said they were lying

Earlier this week when they reported Retardeens wife in hospital people also came to say they were lying

And OP expects his friend to tell him he actually stole the money must be clueless than Retardeen Jonathan