Matilda Omonaiye/
Remember the former Ogun State deputy commissioner of police who used a chopper to smoke out kidnappers in a forest and rescued seven victims abducted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in July 2019?
Now a Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, who left Ogun last year on a tour of duty as CP Administration, Police Medical Services, Falomo, Lagos, is back as the CP in charge of the gateway state as the incumbent CP, Kenneth Ebrimson retires tomorrow.
As a deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations in Ogun last year, Ajogun, who hails from Akoko Edo in Edo State, led a daring operation that freed seven victims from kidnappers den on July 27, 2019, after he set out to rescue three abducted staffers of Lafia Hospital in Ibadan.
At the time, the police spokesman in Ogun State, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, revealed that Ajogun and his team embarked on technical and forensic investigation and the kidnappers’ hideout was geo-located within Fidiwo/Onigari forest along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, supported the team with a helicopter with which the area viewed was properly surveyed.
Oyeyemi said, “Having located the hoodlums’ hideout, the place was smoked with teargas through the chopper, which left the hoodlums with no other alternatives than to hurriedly push out their victims from captivity. It was there and then we discovered that apart from three persons abducted on the 23rd of July, another four persons were abducted on the 24th but not reported.
“In all, seven victims were successfully rescued on the 27th of July 2019, and they have all been reunited with their families.”
The kidnappers were arrested along with 40 other suspects found with illicit drugs in areas around the forest.
Ajogun, who enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police on March 15, 1988, is a graduate of Political Science, Second Class Upper division, from the University of Ibadan. He also has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Lagos State University and LL.B ( Hons.) from the National Open University Nigeria (NOUN).
He has worked in various capacities across the length and breadth of the country since he started his police career in the old Bendel State as the Second-in-Command (2i/c) Police-Public Relations Officer (PPRO) between 1990 and 1991. Thereafter, he was appointed pioneer Police-Public Relations Officer of the newly created Delta State Police Command from 1991 to 1993.
Ajogun was the Director of Operations (Dops) Task Force on Telecommunications and Postal Offences, 1996 to 1998. He also worked as a detective in X-Squad, the anti-corruption section of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), Alagbon Close, Lagos.
He was at various times Sectional Head at the Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi as well as SCIID, Panti, Lagos, and later became pioneer Head, Anti-Vice Squad, Lagos State Police Headquarters, Ikeja. He had also served as the DPO Elere and Ebute Ero, in Lagos.
Ajogun was Personal Assistant (PA) to the former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Tafa Balogun at the Force Headquarters in Abuja and briefly as Principal Staff officer (PSO) Lagos Annex to the former IGP Solomon Arase. He had also served as Area Commander in Bauchi, Akure and Ikeja respectfully.
In 2016, he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police and posted to Rivers State as DC operations from where, after a very short stint, he was transferred to Ondo State as DC operations. He was subsequently posted to Akwa Ibom State as DC State CID and from there to Ekiti State Police Command also as DC State CID.
The new police helmsman has attended courses within and outside Nigeria among which are Public Relations Development Course at the Police Staff College, Jos; Advanced Detective Course (ADC) at Police Staff College, Jos; United Nations Civilian Police Senior Management Seminar, New Delhi, India; International Arms Trafficking course, Gaborone, Botswana; Intermediate Command Course (ICC) where he emerged as the best graduating officer of the course and Senior Management (Strategic Command and Leadership Course Command) course, both at the Staff College, Jos.
Within the police circles, CP Ajogun is known as a very brilliant officer, a good detective and hardworking officer of high integrity. He is a member of the International Association of Police Chiefs and the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). He is happily married and blessed with children.
Other appointments made by the IGP included that of CP Mobayo Babatunde for Ekiti State; CP Abdulkadir Jimoh, Cross River State, and CP Okoli Michael posted to Bayelsa State.
NewsmakersNG learnt that the appointments take immediate effect.
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