The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has clarified the NPF sports levy deduction from personnel salaries, stating that its sport has been primarily funded by an annual deduction force from time immemorial.
It said the arrangement was not the creation of Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olukayode Egbetokun who assumed office last month.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi made the clarification in a statement. He said that a recent media publication on the NPF sports levy was a mischievous and calculated attempt to rubbish police integrity, an age-long tradition.
According to him, the NPF sports levy deduction was consolidated in the year 2003, and reviewed by the management of the Force in the year 2012.
Adejobi who was reacting to a news that credited the deduction to the Acting Inspector General of Police Egbetokun said it was approved some months before his appointment.
He said that the recent spread of disinformation with regards to the NPF sports levy deduction by some sections of the media are baseless and misleading, calculated to deceive the public and rubbish the integrity of the Force.
He said in as much as the Force does not intend to dignify the unprofessionalism and falsehood of the media outlets, their attempt to sensationalize this longstanding annual practice and personalizing it to the current Inspector General of Police is not only mischievous but a disservice to the above-stated facts.
It is evident that the purveyors of this disinformation are poised to mislead the public by distorting the truth and creating unnecessary mischief.
He urged the public and media outlets to verify the information and desist from spreading baseless claims calculated at tarnishing the image of the Nigeria Police Force while encouraging well-meaning Nigerians to discountenance the malicious publication.