Immediate past Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr Aderemi Adeoye, may have talked himself into controversy by his recent boast about heading a N20 billion rich organisation that he will be retiring into to rival Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. David-Chyddy Eleke reports.
Anyone who knows the immediate past commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr Aderemi Adeoye, can say there are few things you cannot take away from him. They include his rich experience in security matters, his rich educational background and lastly his confidence.
Penultimate Saturday, Adeoye was ceremonially pulled out of the Nigeria Police Force after 35 years of service, to commemorate his retirement. He later officially retired on May 1.
During an elaborate pull out parade held for him, one would decipher that he is not just any other policeman. He is indeed a wealthy man, and no cost was spared to ensure that the event was colourful. From the entrance of Dr Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka which was the venue of the event, the decorations on both sides of an aisle which was created as a drive-in space was adorned with diverse colourful pictures of the outgoing commissioner, showing him with different segment of the society in Anambra State. From top clergy men to billionaire Anambra businessmen who paid him courtesy visits and many more.
The occasion was also attended by people from all walks of life, from friends and well wishes to monarchs of communities in the state, heads of security agencies and of course, members of Alpha Trust Investment Club (ATIC) from across the globe, the club which he boldly told everyone he founded in 2018, even while serving as a police officer.
Just as the decorations at the venue was enough to tell anyone that Adeoye is a wealthy man, his speech at the event did not fail to disclose the high level of education he had acquired, so also did he not fail to showcase his boldness, as besides reeling out his impressive resume, the places he has served and the ivy league institutions he has attended, Adeoye did not shy away from letting everyone know how rich he was.
During his speech, he said: “I have been through militancy in Niger Delta, Boko Haram in North East, I have fought IPOB insurgency in the South East, and I’m glad that I’m alive today. Despite gunfire and bombs we have encountered, I do not have any scare on me. I thank NPF for the opportunity to serve, and thank Nigeria for investing in me through trainings at home and abroad. I have been privileged to be trained in Ghana, England, Israel, California and more.
“I have served abroad in the United Nations, and this career gave me opportunities for self development, and these have prepared me for retirement. It’s been a unique privilege serving Anambra. In 2018, I founded an investment club, Alpha Trust Investment Club (ATIC) Limited. We started it with a modest sum of N54million, but today we have investments worth over N20 billion. That (ATIC) will be my full time business from Wednesday May 1 when I retire. We have been investing and now we want to go into full time business and we will in the next 10 years give Dangote a run for his money,” Adeoye said.
Rise in the force
Adeoye has been serially condemned by many who believe that his speech and the disclosure of his worth may be a motivation for other police officers to start amassing wealth in readiness for retirement.
For others, it was wrong for him to have opened and ran a private business even while still serving the country, as the business was capable of stopping him from giving his all to the country.
As the argument continues, what many people do not know is that Adeoye was a lowly man who rose in the force, despite enrolling as a constable with his graduate degree, as a result of lack of job.
During an interview with THISDAY in his Awka office, Adeoye recounted: “I joined the police because I came from a poor background and didn’t have connection and was unable to get any job within the timeframe of a month after graduation. I joined police in 1989, and when I joined, the only alternative job I had was teaching, which I found to be honourable and dignifying and was ready to take, but the process would take six months.
“For record purposes, I taught during my service year in Niger state, I taught Integrated Science. During my service year, I was sending money home for feeding because for me to go through the university, was a struggle and my mother sold her valuable and sold the vehicles our father left, just to get me through education. I was the first to go through the University and the younger ones were queuing up behind me for me to finish and support them.
“So, when I finished my service year, I resolved to take any job that came along. And for that reason, I joined the police force as a recruit constable. I dropped my first degree, second class honours division, I used my WAEC to enlist as recruit constable.
Then in the course of the training, I stood out. When we got to the training school, leadership was based on how many credits one had in school cert. And nobody knew I was a graduate as at that time, but I had nine credit in WAEC, and I was appointed as the leader of the squad; 120 man strong, and we were told that whoever becomes Number one depends on who comes first in the monthly examination, which determines progression to the next class.”
Road to becoming a billionaire cop
Adeoye in the interview said because he was already a graduate before joining the police as a constable, he had an edge over other colleagues and before long, he distinguished himself and later became the toast of his superiors. He later received accelerated promotion as he rose and took on very difficult tasks, until he later found himself in the United Nations where he served and said he was well paid, and also cultivated the habit of investing his money. Flowing from the knowledge garnered from many courses, he established an investment club in 2018 and it is still thriving till now, with a membership of 1,400 Nigerians at home and abroad.
Sojourn in Anambra
Adeoye may have retired from Anambra after being posted to the state in 2021 as a DCP, and also got promoted at CP and served for about a year before retirement , but he is not new to the state. He has been in the state four times in different capacity. His first was in 1991 and he served for 10 years. He was patrol and guard officer in Fegge, Onitsha, he was operations officer from the OPS headquarters in Awka, he also worked as officer in charge of Operation Kpochapu in Onitsha Joint Army Police Patrol, he was in State CID Awka for five years, he was District Officer, Oba Police Station, Divisional Crime Officer, Ojoto Division, Divisional Crime Officer, Central Police Station, Nnewi, and pioneer Commander, Anambra Troopers.
In October 2021 he was posted again to Anambra with the former CP, Echeng Echeng as Deputy Commissioner of Police, and he served for one year before he was promoted as Commissioner of police in 2023.
Defence about being a billionaire
While many are lampooning Adeoye for the audacity to proclaim himself a billionaire while still in service, and the temerity to openly say he used the period of his service to the nation to engage in other personal businesses, the retired Commissioner of Police had during a TV interview with ARISE NEWS Channel clarified that he never mentioned that he was a billionaire. He also added that he was careful about every word he used, and was not ready to take them back, insisting he never ran a Ponzi Scheme as alleged. He also insisted that his private business didn’t confront with his job as a senior police officer.
In the interview, he said: “The people of Anambra State knew that I did my work diligently. It has never happened in the history of Anambra State that a retiring CP should be conferred with two chieftaincy titles by two communities and a street named after me. I am Nwanne di na mba 1 of Omasi Kingdom and I am Dike Ochioha 1 of Ogbunka Kingdom. I received these titles within a space of one week. The street named after me is by the Governor’s Lodge in Awka. Also, Africa Trust Magazine declared me man of year and went down memory lane to capture what we did in terms of security.
“So I did not abuse my office. I served for 35 years without attracting any query. The name of this organization is Alfa Trust Investment Club. Our loan arm is registered as ATIC Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited, which is registered with the Lagos State Government. We carry on investment under the business name of ATIC Ventures and Business Services and that is the name that is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). We would have liked to register our full name as it is, but CAC did not approve that.
“Basically when we started in 2018, all the 177 founding members were my facebook friends and they were drawn from an investment forum where I had lectured for free for years. The members requested that this thing we are doing as a hubby can assist somebody and that we can pull resources together to do some legal investment.
I was mandated to set the process in motion to ensure that everyone who would participate will willingly do so.The 177 members were then migrated to the Investment outfit. Subsequently, on yearly, basis, we admit members. These my friends invited their family members and friends to join. That is how we grew. We don’t solicit for membership. For five years of our existence, we pay dividends every year without fail. Our purpose is to invest, not to do business.
“So we don’t have an office, we don’t have overhead costs, we don’t have employees, we don’t pay salaries, we don’t have generator, we don’t have official cars, the only thing the officials of the club spend is their data which is seen as their individual contributions to the growth of the club. The only thing we spend money on is organizing our physical meetings and this is paid for by membership dues, which is N5,000 per member, per annum. For anybody to be a member, he must be a Nigerian, irrespective of where he resides in the world. The person must have visible means of livelihood which is verifiable.
“Usually, we demand to see work place identity card and we go further to verify it. We do background checks and we insist that any member we admit must not have any criminal record. Those who have pending matters with EFCC are excluded. Majority of our members are Nigerian professionals all over the world. Once admitted, the person indicates the number of shares he or she wants to buy, subject to a minimum of 50,000 units,” Adeoye clarified.
