NSCDC officers accuse Oyo commandant Augustine Padonu of compulsory N5,000 levies for birthday, church harvest

Personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command, have accused the state commandant, Augustine Padonu, of imposing compulsory financial contributions on officers deployed to various beats.

SaharaReporters reports that the alleged levies were demanded for Padonu’s birthday and church harvest, with contributions reportedly ranging from ₦1,000 to ₦50,000.

The officers alleged that Superintendent of Corps Adeeyo Oluremi Babatunde, the command’s “Beat Coordinator,” facilitated the collections. A WhatsApp contribution list obtained by the publication reportedly showed 58 officers contributing ₦616,000 into an account belonging to Adeeyo.

One message allegedly directed officers to contribute ₦5,000 each, with the amount to be deducted from their allowances.

“I want to plead that we should contribute 5k each to cover up for the two events. Because it has become a must for me to do it on Monday when everybody is presenting theirs,” the message read.

However, Adeeyo denied that the deductions amounted to extortion, saying they were welfare contributions.

“So, it’s not extortion as they put it. It’s something that we do for us to grow in the course of the job,” he said.

The allegations remain claims and have not been independently established.