LAGOS AUGUST 2ND (NEWSRANGERS)-Retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, Iliyasu Aliyu, shares his thoughts with BIODUN BUSARI on his post-retirement life, and why he is sad over the meagre gratuity given to him after 35 years in service
When did you join the police?
I joined the Nigeria Police on January 1, 1984. I was born on February 21, 1962, in Agyaragun Tofa Kontofa, Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. I served in Lagos State. From there, I was posted to Plateau State, then to Katsina State, before I was posted back to Plateau State again. From there, I served in Nasarawa before I was posted and retired in Abuja.
Why did you join the police?
I joined the force because of my passion to serve Nigeria. Although I aimed to further my studies, I lacked the wherewithal to pursue my academic dreams. At that time, I knew one of the best ways to make my country a great place was to contribute to upholding the law. The primary function of the police is to protect lives and property, and this I cherish so much. It was what motivated me to serve in the police, and I spent 35 years.
What were your unforgettable experiences with the Nigeria Police?
There were a few of those remarkable events during my 35 years. These experiences were both beautiful and ugly, but there were two that I’ll share. The first one was a particular day when my colleagues and I were on a border patrol in Katsina State. We were at the Nigeria-Niger border.
Unfortunately, we didn’t know we had crossed into the Niger Republic. All of a sudden, we were rounded up by a large number of Nigeriens. They were armed with guns, machetes, and other weapons. They threatened to kill us because they said we were criminals who wanted to invade their communities. I was the only Nigerian person who understood Hausa, and I begged them.
I explained that we were men of the Nigeria Police and that we had mistakenly overstepped our bounds. They didn’t believe us despite our uniforms. The majority of them concluded that they should kill us. One of them said many criminals had disguised themselves in uniforms to perpetrate evil in their country.
I kept begging them, and one of them, probably their leader, said they would accompany us back to Nigerian territory. It was an emotional encounter for me. I thought I would die that day.
The second one happened in Nasarawa State. It was when the tension of the herder-farmer clash was on the rise in the country. We were going on patrol and found ourselves among the herders. They pursued us. My colleagues and I ran for our dear lives. We ran like a deer escaping from a lion in the jungle.
That day, my uniform was soaked with sweat. Anybody who saw me that day wouldn’t believe I was a police officer. With all of these experiences, it is sad how we have been treated like filth by the Federal Government by giving us peanuts as gratuity.
You were among the retired police officers who protested poor gratuity after many years of service. What happened?
I retired in 2019, and the day I received a call after six months of my retirement to come for my gratuity, I was bewildered by what I saw. They asked us to fill out forms and sign. When I saw my gratuity, it was N2.1m. Many things ran through my mind, and it was as if I were dreaming.
Also, my monthly pension was N35,000. On the day we went there at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, a retired inspector saw N1.5m as his gratuity and fainted immediately.
There are a lot of police officers who have died anticipating that this scheme would be reviewed. I had a friend in Yobe State who went mad because of thinking about this malady, before he eventually passed on.
How did you feel when you discovered your gratuity did not meet your expectations?
I felt bad. It was a miserable feeling. A lot of retired police officers had died because of this ill-treatment by the Federal Government. I know about 10 colleagues who have died. But this thing began when we were forced to go to the PenCom office while I was still in service.
It was an unfavourable condition where our gratuity would be used to pay our pensions. These conditions are pathetic. The contributory pension scheme is not favourable to us. But this doesn’t affect IG, DIG, and AIG. That is to tell you the system has been manipulated.
A lot of Nigerians are not sympathetic to the conditions of retired police officers because of some ugly experiences, like extortion and brutality. What is your take on this?
Some of us are aware of this, and we can’t blame them. The point is that the bad eggs in the police force give Nigerians the impression that all officers are the same. Just as we have bad eggs in the police, we have them in all other professions and sectors of our economy.
I served for 12 years in Lagos State, and I saw a lot of my colleagues extorting innocent citizens, but I never did. They took bribes, and I didn’t. They would tell me that Lagos is the land of opportunities, and they used it to indulge in all forms of criminality.
The sad part is that all Nigerian policemen are treated as devils because of these bad eggs. In all the states where I served, I did so with integrity; I didn’t engage in any criminality. I don’t drink or smoke.
Any policeman who does these things will take bribes or extort money from people. The reason why some people extort and take bribes is that even their colleagues can shoot them dead if they do not cooperate or attempt to prevent them.
Can you give an example where you stopped corrupt policemen from engaging in fraudulent practices?
In 1986, I was on duty with my colleagues at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and we stopped and searched a man carrying a bag. I was with three mobile policemen. The highest denomination at that time was N50.
The man said he was a farmer and lived at Ketu-Mile 12. He was from Kaduna State. Can you believe it was my subordinates who tried to convince me that we should kill him so we could have his money (wads of naira notes in a bag)? I said ‘no.’ I let them know that such would not happen in my presence.
I followed the man back to his house from Ikeja to Mile 12. With our investigation, we realised that the money was genuine, and it was for farmers in Kaduna State. I wasn’t the only good person in the force; there were many others.
There are good people, and there are bad people. There are still good people there. The evil-minded policemen are those corrupting the system, but bad eggs are everywhere, not only in the police.
What was the reaction of the leadership of the Nigeria Police and the Federal Government to your protest?
The Inspector-General of Police invited us after the protest. We sat together in a hall. He promised to take our matter before Mr President, but what we told him was that we needed a total exit from the contributory pension scheme.
We told him explicitly to establish a police pension board for us in line with the Army, Air Force, and Navy. The police are the ones responsible for the security of this nation. That was our submission to the Inspector-General of Police.
On the second day of the protest, we marched to the gate of the National Assembly Complex, and an honourable member of the House of Representatives addressed us. He told us that they had made a move to remove us from the contributory pension scheme.
He asked that we give him two weeks and come back to the National Assembly for updates. It was on his words that we suspended the protest. But as we speak, they are on recess (as of Thursday, 31st July, 2025). The two weeks he promised will elapse on the 4th of August.
Meanwhile, I’ve started mobilising my retiree colleagues for another protest. If we don’t see him for any update by August 4, we will mobilise for another protest. As they went on recess without notifying us, we will also march peacefully to Abuja without notifying them.
When Nigerians protest peacefully to register their grievances, why is it common for the police to disrupt such protests, which is a way of suppressing the masses?
Let me tell you one thing: sometimes we say it is the nature of the job. When a superior gives an order, you can’t use your discretion. I won’t say more than that. But what is happening to us at the moment is a clear message to those who are in service now.
It is a message for them that they should rethink when their senior officers tell them to go and disperse people protesting peacefully on the streets.
For example, we’ve been crying since the creation of PenCom, and we have 36 governors who don’t care. We have traditional rulers, and none of them could come to our aid and say, ‘Let us help these people.’
When you go to the National Assembly, you will see all our police officers protecting the senators and legislators. None of them has sympathy for us.
Meanwhile, activists like Omoyele Sowore and Dan Bello stood by us in the protests. I will never forget these humble gentlemen for their activism in helping us.
It is only God who will reward them. Imagine when we went to the IG, he told us that we shouldn’t allow politicians to use us. Do you think politicians will manipulate us in our sixties? We know the law; this isn’t about manipulation, it’s about fighting for our rights.
If people like Sowore are in government, many people who are cheating us in this country will start to run and leave this country. I have told the policemen still in service that what we are facing should be a signal to them, and that they will be treated the same way we are being treated now.
When any senior officer asks them to go and disrupt peaceful protests when the masses are on the streets, murder or shooting should not occur.
How do you cope with N35,000 monthly allowance?
I do not have any business or investments. During my service, there were times we did 12 hours; where would we get time for other things? That is why it is injurious that, with all these years of service, there is nothing to show for it.
I concentrated on my police job. Right now, it is with the help of my brothers that I’m surviving. I have eight children. There are graduates among them, but they don’t have jobs. I have three graduates as children.
The younger ones cannot go to school. I don’t have the money to pay their school fees again. Some of them are just doing menial jobs, and they still give me some money. The place I’m living was given to me by one of my brothers.
He (my brother) just gave me a small portion of his apartment. But I don’t have any regrets because I served with passion, and I thank God for the ones I was able to sponsor to school.
Punch
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