A police officer yesterday got the boot for getting drunk on duty.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, ordered that Inspector K.H. Kadima be tried when a video showing him drunk at Akowonjo in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos went viral.
He was seen drunk on Instablog9ja.
Another Inspector, Emmanuel Egba, who was seen with a bottle of beer at Ogunronbi Road, Idimu, Lagos, was warned.
Egbaโs picture was published by a national daily in September.
Idris directed Lagos State Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal to act on Kadimaโs case when his attention was drawn to the video.
The inspector was said to have been traced to Ikeja where he was apprehended and tried.
He was said to have confessed that he was the one in the video during the Orderly Room trial.
A statement by the commandโs spokesman, Chike Oti, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), gave Kadimaโs number as 176219
The statement reads in part: โThe attention of IGP Ibrahim Idris has been drawn to a video of Lagos policeman who got drunk at Akowonjo, Dopemu area of Lagos. He directed CP Edgal to fish out the erring policeman for appropriate disciplinary action.
โThe policeman, who was stupefied after guzzling large quantity of alcoholic beverage, was located and apprehended today (yesterday) at Police Mobile Force Squadron 22 Base, Ikeja, where he served as the Command Provost. He was identified as Inspector Kadima Useni with appointment number 176219.
โDuring interrogation, the officer affirmed that he was the one in the video. He was, therefore, tried in orderly room and summarily dismissed to act as a deterrent to others.โ
The CP has ordered that beer parlours in the police barracks be shut to avert a recurrence.
โCP Edgal warns against offering policemen alcoholic drinks while on duty by members of the public. He added that henceforth any policeman found drunk on duty would be visited with similar punishment,โ Oti said.
Egba, attached to Area โMโ Command, Idimu, Lagos, was arrested on September 13 for holding a bottle of beer on duty.
He was questioned by some senior officers, but denied the allegation, stating that he recovered the beer bottle with liquid content from a motorist, who was drinking right inside his car.
โHe (Egba) feared that the driver might get himself intoxicated, thereby endangering his life and that of other road users,โ he said.
โThe case is, however, being investigated at the Command Provost Section and if his claim is found to be false, appropriate disciplinary action will be meted out to him after an Orderly Room Trial,โ he said.
Oti said Egba was warned because โno one saw him drinking. It was a motionless picture.โ
