“She never collected a Kobo!” – Police dismiss report linking IGP’s wife to N6,000 dues

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The Lagos State Police Command has strongly refuted a media report alleging that senior police officers were directed to remit N6,000 each as 2025 dues to the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA) under the leadership of the Inspector-General of Police’s wife.

In a statement signed by the Command’s spokesperson, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, the police described the report, published by Sahara Reporters, as “malicious, outrightly false, unfounded and a figment of imagination of an uneducated writer.”

Hundeyin clarified that “there was no any time in the past or present that POWA dues were ordered to be paid to the IGP’s wife who is the POWA President or her office as mischievously stated in the report.”

He explained that POWA is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that has, since inception, catered for the welfare of police officers’ wives, children, and families of officers who died in service.

According to him, the association “is the umbrella body of all Police Officers’ Wives throughout the country, set up to alleviate the welfare condition of wives of police officers and their families.”

The Command further clarified that the association’s activities are funded through voluntary contributions.

“POWA dues are voluntary and payable only by Senior Police Officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and above, including the Commissioner of Police,” Hundeyin stressed.

“These dues are paid into POWA accounts domiciled in Lagos State and expended within the State Command for the benefit of members, not to the POWA President or her office in Abuja.”

He noted that the funds go into welfare programmes, empowerment initiatives for police widows, and support for children and wards of deceased officers.

Dismissing the publication, the Command urged the public to “disregard this story from a hope-lost and morally repugnant freelancer as completely false and mischievous.”

It also called on the media to resist being used to malign individuals or misrepresent institutions.

“The media are equally implored not to allow their esteemed platforms to be used to misinform the public or cast aspersions on the hard-earned integrity and highly respected personality that has been doing her best to better the lives of police widows and families across the country,” the statement said.