From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Commercial activities were shut down in Ila-Orangun, Osun State, yesterday, as the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tafa Balogun, was laid to rest in his hometown.
Shops and markets were closed, and commercial vehicles and motorcyclists parked, as sons and daughters of the town stormed the venue of the prayer in honour of the late IGP.
The funeral prayer was held at Ila central Eid prayer ground and led by the Chief Imam of Ila-Orangun, Dr Abdulhammed Salahudeen.
A former Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, who spoke to journalists after the burial, described the late Balogun as “an operational icon, intellectual to the core and a cerebral officer.”
“For those of us that he brought up, Lagos was like Mecca to most of us because we looked forward to seeing him and sitting by him to listen to that great wisdom in policing. Even in death, he remains my mentor and benefactor,” Arase added.
The Osun State Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode represented the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Usman Baba, while the state Commissioner for Finance, Wole Oyebamiji and the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, represented the state government.
Balogun was born on August 8, 1947, and got appointed as the 21st Inspector-General of Police on March 6, 2002. He died on Thursday, August 4 at Reddington Hospital, Lekki,