Segun Atanda/
In the quiet gravitas of a gathering steeped in history, memory, and power, former President Olusegun Obasanjo reached back two decades to explain a decision that would leave a lasting imprint on Nigeria’s policing architecture: the appointment of Sunday Gabriel Ehindero as Inspector-General of Police in 2005.
It was not, he made clear, a routine choice. Nigeria, at the time, stood at what he described as a “critical junction” in its democratic journey: fragile, uncertain, and in need of more than conventional law enforcement. What the country required, Obasanjo said, was a mind as much as a badge: a police leader grounded in law, guided by strategy, and capable of navigating a rapidly evolving security landscape.
Ehindero, in his telling, was that man.
Speaking at the public presentation of Ehindero’s twin memoirs: Reflections on Policing and Security and My Adventure in Policing Nigeria, the former president offered not just a tribute, but a measured validation of a tenure he said delivered reform, discipline, and intellectual direction to a force often accused of lacking all three.
Under Ehindero, Obasanjo recalled, policing began to tilt away from reactive force toward intelligence-led operations. Community policing gained renewed emphasis, reconnecting officers with the citizens they served, while a firm zero-tolerance stance on corruption sought to restore public confidence in an institution long burdened by distrust. Welfare initiatives and structured capacity-building programmes, he noted, helped professionalise the rank and file, embedding a sense of purpose that went beyond routine enforcement.
The impact, in Obasanjo’s estimation, was profound enough to warrant an unusual step: he extended Ehindero’s tenure twice, first in 2006 and again in 2007, to ensure stability during Nigeria’s delicate civilian-to-civilian transition. It was a period that demanded continuity, and in Ehindero, he found a steady hand.
Yet, beyond the operational reforms, what set Ehindero apart was an intellectual approach to policing that blurred the line between practitioner and scholar. His pioneering work in police prosecution in superior courts, alongside his handling of complex national issues such as the Okija Shrine investigations, underscored a leadership style rooted as much in legal reasoning as in enforcement.
If Obasanjo’s reflections anchored Ehindero firmly in history, the tone of the occasion, captured in a sweeping welcome address by retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Adeleye Oyebade, projected his legacy into the future.
For Oyebade, the event was more than a book launch; it was an act of institutional preservation. In a system where memory is often fleeting and lessons easily lost, Ehindero’s decision to document his journey was, in itself, a form of national service. His tenure, Oyebade noted, was defined by a simple but powerful doctrine boldly inscribed on police patrol vehicles of the era: Policing with Integrity.
It was not a slogan. It was a system.
Under that doctrine, postings, transfers, and promotions were sanitised and guided strictly by merit, insulating the process from the corrosive influence of patronage. Ethical consciousness was elevated through initiatives such as the Police Chaplaincy, while training and retraining became institutional priorities, exposing officers to both local and international best practices. Even more forward-looking was his push for inter-agency collaboration, at a time when rivalry among security agencies often undermined national security. Through initiatives at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, officers from different services were brought into shared learning spaces, an early attempt at building trust and operational synergy.
Ehindero’s reach extended beyond policy into people. As a trainer at the Police College, Ikeja, he mentored a generation of officers who would go on to occupy the highest rungs of Nigeria’s security architecture, an enduring testament to his influence. A former teacher, mathematician, and lawyer, he embodied a rare archetype in law enforcement: the scholar-policeman, equally at home in the classroom, the courtroom, and the command structure.
His body of work reflects that dual identity. Over the decades, he has authored seminal texts on policing, law, human rights, and constitutional development, works that have quietly shaped professional discourse within the Nigeria Police Force. With the release of his latest volumes, he completes a transition from active service to intellectual custodianship, offering not just recollections, but frameworks for future officers to study and adapt.
The current Inspector-General of Police, Rilwan Olatunji Disu, captured this sentiment succinctly. Describing the books as practical reference materials for contemporary policing, he urged officers to embrace research, documentation, and continuous learning as essential tools of the profession. In an era of complex and evolving threats, he suggested, institutional memory is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
Still, amid the celebration, Obasanjo struck a cautionary note. Nigeria’s policing challenges, he implied, are not merely about reforming structures but about correcting enduring habits. Chief among them is the failure to conclude investigations, a systemic weakness that continues to erode justice and public trust. If addressed, he argued, the impact would be transformative.
Ehindero expressed appreciation to President Tinubu in his book stating: “I was the AIG Zone 2, Lagos, in 2001 when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the Governor. In all my endeavour in and out of the police force, I have enjoyed the support and encouragement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR without which I could not have achieved much.
“I am grateful to him. I deeply appreciate the sacrifice and unflinching support of my nuclear and extended family at all times.”
Among dignitaries at the book launch were a constellation of political leaders, security chiefs, and traditional rulers including Ex-IGP Suleiman Abba, former IGP Usman Alkali Baba, the wife of former IGP Solomon Arase, Mrs. Agherase Arase, immediate past IGP Kayode Egbetokun, former governor of Kogi State, Capt. Inuwa Wada, retired DIGs Jonathan Towuru, Ogunjemilusi and traditional rulers from Ondo State and South West.
As the event drew to a close, what remained was not just the story of a man, but the outline of a philosophy, one that insists that policing, at its best, is neither brute force nor bureaucratic routine, but a disciplined blend of intellect, integrity, and service.
Two decades after Obasanjo’s decision, the question has subtly shifted. It is no longer simply why Ehindero was chosen. It is whether the system he helped shape has remained faithful to the standards he set.
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