By Suleiman Abubakar Rimi Uku Lafia
Former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, has narrated how police officers once arrested him in Lagos without realizing he was their Commissioner of Police at the time.
According to the former IGP, the incident occurred on a Saturday when he woke up early to conduct an unannounced visit to officers on duty at various checkpoints.
While driving along Herbert Macaulay Road, some young police officers stopped his vehicle and requested his driver’s license and vehicle documents.
Although he introduced himself simply as Mohammed, they insisted he present his ID card, even though they had none themselves.
They later escorted him to the Yaba (Panti) Police Station, where an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), dressed in shorts, attempted to interrogate him. Abubakar said he refused, insisting the officer must wear proper uniform before questioning him.
“When the ASP looked closely at my face, he realized who I was. Immediately, panic set in – some even jumped through the window and fled,” he recounted.
Abubakar said what disturbed him most was not the arrest itself, but the sheer display of indiscipline, lack of training, and unprofessional conduct by the officers.
“How can a police officer stand on the road without an ID card and still stop citizens? How can an ASP conduct official duties in casual clothes?” he queried.
The former IGP added that the experience reinforced his belief that effective leadership requires going into the field to see realities firsthand, in order to ensure truth and justice at all levels.
