Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo (born 7 February 1953) is a former Inspector General of the

Nigerian Police The Nigeria Police Force is the principal law enforcement and the lead security agency in Nigeria. Designated by the 1999 constitution as the national police of Nigeria with exclusive jurisdiction throughout the country, as at 2016 it has a s ...

(IGP), serving from July 2009 to September 2010. He was appointed IGP upon the retirement of

Mike Mbama Okiro Sir Mike Mbama Okiro was the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force from 2007 to 2009. Background Mike Okiro was born on 24 July 1949 in Oguta, Imo State and hails from Egbema in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers St ...

Background

Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo was born on 7 February 1953 in Nkanu Local Government Area of

Enugu State Enugu State ( ig, Ȯra Enugu) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the south, and Anambra State to the west. T ...

. He attended the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has thr ...

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively re ...

from 1972 - 1976, where he obtained a B.Sc. Political Science. He joined the police force in August 1977 as an Assistant Superintendent of Police and rose steadily through the ranks, becoming Commissioner of Police in April 1997 and Assistant Inspector-General of Police in May 2001. His first postings were in

Rivers State Rivers State, also known as Rivers, is a state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed in 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include: Imo to the north, Abia and Akwa Ib ...

, with later positions in

Imo State Imo State ( ig, Ȯra Imo) is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its n ...

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Edo State Edo, commonly known as Edo State, is a state located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. As of 2006 National population census, the state was ranked as the 24th populated state (3,233,366) in Nigeria, However there was controversy ...

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

and

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to the ...

. Between 1998 and 2000 he was chairman/chief executive officer of the

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is a federal law enforcement agency in Nigeria under the Federal Ministry of Justice charged with eliminating the growing, processing, manufacturing, selling, exporting, and trafficking of hard d ...

(NDLEA). He was promoted to Deputy Inspector General on 14 March 2002, and served three Inspectors General (

Tafa Balogun Mustafa Adebayo Balogun (25 August 1947 – 4 August 2022), widely known as kumawu, was a Nigerian police officer, 11th Inspector General of Police from March 2002, but was forced to retire because of widespread charges of corruption in January ...

, Sunday Ehindero and Mike Okiro) in that role. He was briefly the acting Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force in 2007, before Mike Okiro was appointed to the IG post.

Inspector General of Police

At the ceremony where he formally assumed the acting IGP post in July 2009, Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo promised continuity with the direction set by his predecessor. He said "we will ensure we have a stable and secure society with crime brought down to the barest minimum by initiating new crime fighting strategies and employing our greatest assets, manpower through well motivated measures." On 5 August 2009 the Nigeria Police Council confirmed Onovo as the substantive Inspector General of Police. In August 2009, Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo said that aide de camps (ADC's) attached to governors or political office holders would be allowed to spend no more than three years on that assignment, after which they must return to the force. He also announced a campaign to deploy mobile police officers to address the high rate of kidnapping in

Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi State ...

and the entire South East. In late July 2009, members of the extremist

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

sect went on the rampage in five Northern States of Nigeria, attacking several police stations. During the violence, Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Boko Haram, was captured and died in police custody, reportedly when he was trying to escape. On 5 August, Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo summoned the five Commissioners of Police in the North East to explain police involvement in the death. In September 2009, Ogbonna Okechukwu Onovo declared the 20 police who had died trying to maintain order "National Heroes" and presented cheques to their families in compensation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onovo, Ogbonna Okechukwu Nigerian police officers Living people 1953 births University of Nigeria alumni People from Enugu State