President Muhammadu Buhari has secretly extended the service of his Personal Chief Security Officer, Abdulkarim Dauda Daura.
Mr Dauda, a commissioner of police with service number P.NO. 23853, is to retire this year, having enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force as a Cadet Officer on January 1, 1985.
His father, Alhaji Dauda Daura, a groundnut merchant in the colonial era in Kano, was Mr Buhari’s elder brother with whom young Buhari once stayed.
Nigeria’s Police Act says an officer is expected to retire from service after 35 years or when he attains the age of 60. The Act does not exclude an officer who has not attained the age of 60 but has served for 35 years from retirement.
But according to a Police Wireless Message, which means ‘secret memo’ in security communications, sighted by DAILY NIGERIAN, the president has extended his service to May 13, 2023 — two weeks to the expiration of the president’s term.
By 2023, Mr Dauda would have served for 38 years.
The memo reads:
“The President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and Chairman Police Council has graciously approved the extension of service of CP Abdulkarim Dauda to 13th May, 2023 when he would have attained sixty (60) years of age. COMPOL INFO-TECH only and amend your records please.”The memo was signed by Usman Alkali Babe, the Assistant Inspector-General in charge of Police Force Secretariat, where the memo emanated from.
Mr Dauda’s promotions from chief superintendent of police to commissioner were also subject of controversies.
A ranking police officer who spoke to DAILY NIGERIAN in confidence said, “the speed he got to the commissioner from chief superintendent just between 2015 and 2019 is unprecedented in the Nigerian Police Force. The promotions were illegal. They only gave him favours because he is related to the president.”
In March 2018, while still a deputy commissioner, he was exposed in a leaked audio begging former chairman of Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, to expedite the promotion of former police spokesperson, Moshood Jimoh.
In the same audio, Mr Okiro told him, “even your own, Even your own, I am putting you for CP“.
Barely four months after, he was decorated by the president as a police commissioner.
Spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force Frank Mba could not be reached for comment at the time of filing in this report.
A source at the force headquarters who confirmed the authenticity of the signal, however said Mr Mba was away in Awka for a training, and therefore his lines are “hardly reached”.
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