The Ondo State Police Command has dismissed as “baseless and malicious” a publication by SaharaReporters alleging that the Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, imposed compulsory financial remittances on officers under his watch.
In a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ayanlade Olayinka Olushola, the Command described the report as a smear campaign meant to undermine its credibility and recent successes against criminals in the state.
The police accused SaharaReporters of exploiting the death of CSP Nimrod Anaka to give weight to its “falsehoods,” stressing that the late officer died of sudden illness and had nothing to do with the allegations.
The Command linked the publication to its recent crackdown on fraudsters, including the arrest of a suspect allegedly behind a fake online Police Academy website and social media accounts used to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.
The suspect, the police claimed, is one of SaharaReporters’ informants whose network has been “decimated.”
According to the statement, the Command remains committed to safeguarding lives and property while urging the public to ignore what it called a “misleading narrative” designed to distract its officers.
