A former Inspector-General of Police, Mustapha Balogun, has passed on at a hospital in Lekki, Lagos, just days before his 75th birthday.
He died at about 8:30 pm on Thursday, following a prolonged illness, according to family sources.
Born August 25, 1947, in Ila Orangun, Osun State, he was appointed the IGP in March 2002. He was the 21st Inspector-General of Police and his reign lasted from 2002 to 2004.
Balogun died at 74.
He was a member of Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police Course 3. He worked in various Police commands across the federation and was promoted as at when due.
He was also a Principal Staff Officer to the former IGP, Muhammadu Gambo, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Edo State and the pioneer Commissioner of Police in Delta.
He was also CP in Rivers and Abia states.
Stealing Nigeria’s money
Tafa Balogun would long be remembered for theft and for dipping his hands into the nation’s cookie jar, unfortunately.
On April 4, 2005, Tafa Balogun was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja for stealing and laundering over $100 million in his three years as Inspector General of Police, from the Police treasury.
The then Nuhu Ribadu-led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under President Olusegun Obasanjo, prosecuted Balogun on 70-count charges bordering on theft.
After being found guilty, Balogun entered a plea bargain with the court in exchange for returning much of the stolen property and money.
He was sentenced to six months behind bars.
Trial Judge Binta Nyako ruled that her sentence reflected that Balogun was a first-time offender and had shown sufficient remorse.
Balogun was subsequently directed by the court to pay N500,000 on each of the eight counts charges, totaling N4million.
His trial was a dramatic one that was keenly followed across the nation; and one that made the front-pages of newspapers daily. One such drama saw Tafa Balogun collapsing on his seat on June 29, 2005, at the Abuja High Court.
The former police boss, who pleaded guilty to eight of the 56 count-charges directly affecting him, was convicted and sentenced to six months in each of the charges, which was however to run concurrently.
On February 9, 2006, after serving his sentence, part of it at Abuja’s National Hospital, Tafa Balogun was set free.
Balogun’s corruption case was however reopened in 2020.
Sources say Tafa Balogun had been battling a heart related disease in Reddington Hospital, Lagos, before being pronounced dead on Thursday, August 4, 2022.