The death last week of Chief Sunday Adedayo Adewusi, Asiwaju of Ogbomosho, marked the passing of one of Nigeria’s best known, one of its most effective and also one of its most controversial police officers. Adewusi, who died at the National Hospital, Abuja on January 26 at the age of 80, was Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force during the Second Republic, in 1981-83. He became IG at the age of 45 and has been the youngest person ever to serve as Nigeria’s top cop.
Though of Ogbomosho origin in Oyo State, Adewusi was born in the present Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State to the family of Pa Abraham Ishola Adeyinka Adewusi and Princess Eyiolawi Abeje. He started his education at Mada Station, where he attended schools ran by both the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and Roman Catholic Church in1944 to 1948. Subsequently he proceeded to Baptist Day School, Jos where he completed his Standard Six in 1949-1950. He later had his secondary education at Government College, Keffi in 1951-1956.
Adewusi joined the Nigeria Police and had his basic training at the Police College in 1957-1958 as a cadet sub-inspector. He distinguished himself at the police college and he won the Cane of Honour upon graduation. He then traveled to the Southern Cameroun for Man O’ War Bay course in the year 1958 and graduated as the overall best police officer. Mr. Sunday Adewusi also underwent many training courses at home and abroad during his police career. His outstanding performance was recognized when he was selected out of many officers and was appointed the Aide-de-Camp to the Governor-General of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe during the First Republic.
On the day that Nigeria became a Republic, October 1, 1963, Sunday Adewusi was the one that anchored the State Banquet Ceremony. As Master of Ceremony for the occasion, he gave an outstanding performance that enthralled the guests who gave him a standing ovation. In 1964 he traveled to the Police Staff College in Scotland for an advanced training that qualified him for top management positions in the Force. He also traveled for studies on the Operation of Force at East Ridding Constabulary, Lancashire, Yorkshire. Adewusi was appointed Commissioner of Police at a tender age of 32 and became Inspector General of Police at the age of 45 in succession to the Acting IG Malam Adamu Sulaiman.
As a police detective in the 1970s Adewusi was credited with a lot of dogged detective work that led to the apprehension of some of the most violent men in Nigeria of those days when armed robbery was becoming a very big national menace. As Inspector General however, Chief Sunday Adewusi became very controversial when he was accused by opposition political parties of becoming too close to the ruling National Party of Nigeria [NPN] during the Second Republic. Under his command the police did many outwardly partisan acts in the run up to the 1983 elections, such as tear gassing opposition rallies and preventing Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe from entering Maiduguri even when he was accompanied by the state’s governor, Muhammadu Goni. Adewusi was so powerful that he was said to pick ministerial nominees from his native Oyo State for President Shehu Shagari. When he formed the Police Mobile Force, it was alleged that he would use it to stop the military from staging a coup. Indeed, one of the first acts of the army after the 1983 coup was to seize at the Lagos ports a consignment of armoured cars that Adewusi imported for the Mobile Police.
After his retirement in 1983 he was installed as Asiwaju of Ogbomosho and he lived a quiet life in Ilorin, Kwara State. The controversies of the Second Republic should not stop us from appreciating Adewusi for his many sterling career achievements and for his dedicated effort in the service of law and order in Nigeria. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
