Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abiodun Sylvester Alabi at the weekend said that the police under his watch will engage community policing to curb crime in Lagos State. He therefore called on Lagosians to cooperate with the police by giving information about happenings in their surroundings at all times, saying that the men of the force are determined to rid the state of criminals.

CP Alabi stated this at the weekend during a reception in his honour by a  Retired Deputy Inspector of Police (DIG), Bashorun Tunde Ogunsakin in Lagos. It was DIG Ogunsakin who mentored and encouraged Alabi to join the Nigerian Police Force after he graduated from the university. Their path followed the same trajectory as both went nearly through the same police formations.

Recounting the past, Bashorun Ogunsakin narrated how he encouraged CP Alabi to join the police force and how both went through the Anti-Riot Mobile Squad of the police otherwise known as Mobile Police, and ‘Kill and Go’ in Nigerian local parlance.

He said: “If you see CP Alabi in mobile uniform, you will respect the police. I am happy he went through the Mobile Force. If you are successful in the Mobile Force, there’s no aspect of Policing that you will not be successful”. 

Bashorun Ogunsakin is himself a highly successful police officer, having served in various areas of policing like the Special Anti-Fraud Unit, Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, Assistant Inspector General(AIG), Zone 11, and Deputy Inspector General when he commanded the Police Contingent of the Security forces in the fight against Boko Haram in North East Nigeria.

It was therefore with confidence that Ogunsakin declared that Lagos is in safe hands.  “Lagos is particularly lucky to have Alabi at this time. I can assure you that Lagos is in safe hands. I just ask Lagosians to assist him by providing support and information to the police”, he said.

Another retired senior police officer, DIG Folusho Adebanjo said he had known Alabi for 30 years. “He is very hardworking, honest and very reliable. I enjoined the people to cooperate with him and the result will be marvelous.

CP Alabi promised to rid the state of criminals and trouble makers. He said he will encourage community policing and call on Lagosians to help the police by providing information about their happenings in their neighborhoods.

Dignitaries present at the reception include former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Babatunde Lemo, Head of Service (HOS) Lagos State, Mr Hakeem Muri Okunola, Commander IRT, Mr Tunji Disu, President and members of Ikere-Ekiti Golden Elites Club, Mr Ademola Oni, Mr Tunji Wusu, Mr Mustapha Ogunsakin, Publisher, Gavel International, and several other dignitaries. 

On January 22, 2012, the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman Baba announced the  appointment of Abiodun Alabi as Lagos State Commissioner of Police to take over from Hakeem Odumosu who was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police. He took over on January 24.

CP Abiodun Sylvester Alabi, fdc holds a Masters in Sociology and a Bachelor’s degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (1989) and the University of Lagos (1986) respectively.

He is a member of Nigeria Institute of Management and Fellow of National Defence College Abuja.

CP Alabi has attended several courses among which are Junior Command Course, Intermediate Command Course, Leadership and Senior Management Course. He has since served in various capacities in the Nigeria Police Force within and outside Nigeria, notably among United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in 2001. He was mobilized into the elite Police Mobile Force as Unit Commander in August 2001.

In April 2004, he became Squadron Commander of Police Mobile Force Squadron 43 Lagos (Diplomatic Protection Squadron) in charge of the security of all Embassies in Lagos. CP Alabi was demobilized from the Police Mobile Force in June 2009 as a Chief Superintendent of Police and subsequently posted to Lion Building Divisional Headquarters as the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and later redeployed as the DPO of Ikeja Divisional Headquarters, Lagos respectively.

In September 2013, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police and deployed to Force Headquarters Abuja as ACP Admin Police Mobile Force. In June 2016, he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police and posted to Taraba State Police Command as DCP Administration before his subsequent posting to Bayelsa State Command as the Deputy Commissioner of Police Administration in July 2017.

In December 2018, he was posted to Ekiti State Command as the Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, from where he was later nominated for the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, Course 28.

At the completion of his Higher Defence and Strategic Course at the National Defence College, CP Abiodun was promoted to the rank of Police Commissioner (2020) and deployed to the Central Criminal Registry (CCR), Force CID Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, from where he was transferred to Bauchi State Command as the Commissioner of Police Bauchi.

CP Alabi is expected to take over the reins as Lagos Police Commissioner on January 24, 2022 to replace Hakeem Olusegun Odumosu who was promoted Assistant Inspector-General of Police last month.

CP Alabi (born December 31, 1964) hails from Ekiti South-West Local Government Area of Ekiti State and enlisted into the Police Force on the 03rd of March, 1990. He is married with children.

He is due for retirement on December 31, 2024

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