By Williams Anuku, Abuja
A police officer, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Francis Osagie Erhabor who is acclaimed to have never taken a bribe in over 30 years of active service, has resigned from the force.
Erhabor, who had once rejected N864 million bribe, resigned as Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of ‘D’ division, Itam, in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State.
He was named ‘Police officer of the year’ after coming top in the nationwide online voting on December 10, 2020, at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, in Abuja, during the 2020 IgbereTV Leadership Excellence Awards.
The police officer, who spoke to news men, said that he felt cheated by the system, having been denied promotion more than thrice despite all his efforts and sacrifices for the police force and the country.
“I joined this noble profession as a cadet inspector on the 2nd of April, 1990. I was 17 years plus at the time. I was told by cerebral and seasoned Police officers like AIG Albasu, AIG Akagbosun, AIG Iyamabo, and DIG Ugowe all retired, that the force needed folks like me. Youths who were patriotic and passionate.
“I loved and believed in this project called Nigeria, and the profession, the Nigeria Police was a great platform to serve my fatherland. I sincerely believed in this job, loved this job and sacrificed so much for this job.
“Looking back, all I see is “nobody cares.” I was cheated out of promotion not once, twice or thrice. Served over 30 years meritoriously and stainless by God’s grace, and not honoured by the system, instead have only enjoyed promotion only five times. I thank God for His grace, that insulated me for the past 30yrs.”
On how he rejected N864 million bribe, CSP Erhabor said: “As a pipeline Commander in Edo state, I turned down N6.5m weekly; N24m monthly; N288m yearly, and a whooping sum of N864million for the three years I served as a commander.”
Asked if he regretted his actions, he said: “I have no regrets for doing this. If given the test again, I will repeat same feat, without thinking twice, even though some of my colleagues term me a fool”.