GALLANT, BRILLIANT ACP BAYO SULAIMAN: MEET THE NEW COMMANDER OF AREA F IKEJA; ASSURES RESIDENTS OF NEW ENERGY, VIGOUR
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
Commander, Area F Command, ACP Bayo Sulaiman.
The Area F Police Command Ikeja under the Lagos State Police Command will witness new dimensions of success as it is imbued with new energy, vibrancy, and vigour from its new Area Commander, ACP Bayo Sulaiman.
The Area Command which was created in 1998 with only two divisions has in its 25 years of existence witnessed numerical, operational, and manpower growth. Today, the Area F Command comprises 9 divisions, 4 police posts, and 1084 personnel.
Area F Police Command Ikeja is one of the most sensitive area commands in Lagos State. This is because it is responsible for the safety and security of key public infrastructure such as Lagos State Government House, Lagos State Judiciary, Lagos State House of Assembly, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Police College and Lagos State Police Command HQ.
L-R: Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Idowu Owohunwa in a warm handshake with the Commander, Area F Command, ACP Bayo Sulaiman during CP Owohunwa’s familiarization visit to Area F Ikeja.
There are also important private individual and organizational entities such as banks and financial institutions, malls, general hospital, religious institutions, residential estates, and industrial complexes.
The new man at the helms of Area F, ACP Bayo Sulaiman was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force in 1996. Upon completion of the Police Course, he was posted in April 1999 to Akure, Ondo State Police Command which was his first role.
Commander, Area F Command, ACP Bayo Sulaiman.
His meritorious career in Akure, led to his deployment to the Force HQ Abuja with a promotion to a 2-star officer rank. There, in Abuja, he worked at the Federal Highway Patrol and then at the Federal Operations Abuja.
In 2002, the outstanding police officer Suleiman was transferred to Lagos where he first worked in the Lagos Government House under the administration of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He later became the Administrative Officer at the Lagos State Police Command HQ Ikeja and then worked in the Government Monitoring Team.
He was announced as the Head of the Lagos State Police Task Force in 2005. He held the role for 10 years with verifiable record of performance in law enforcement and operational dexterity.
Under his watch, the streets of Oshodi and Obalende were sanitized from nefarious activities and criminal elements.
Also, the issue of Aswani Market which was notorious for spilling onto Lagos roads every Tuesday for decades was successfully addressed in a professional and civil manner.
Commander, Area F Command, ACP Bayo Sulaiman.
He was mobilized into the Mobile Police (MOPOL) in 2006 where he worked for 5 years as CSP (Operations) in Lagos State Police Command. He was again moved to serve in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Abuja Headquarters and then to the Nigeria Police Zone comprising Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom state where he served as the Head of Enforcement at the Zonal HQ for one-and-half years.
ACP Bayo Sulaiman, the former Head of Lagos Task Force was deployed to head the MOPOL in Taraba state as the Commander where he played a credible role for 3 years.
During this period, he was drafted into the special presidential assignment as a key member of the Presidential Task Force for the decongestion of Apapa traffic gridlock.
After his sterling performance in MOPOL service category of the Nigeria Police, the one-time DPO of Bode Thomas Division, Surulere, Lagos was demobilized and moved to Delta State to become the A/C (Administration) at the Delta State Police Command. He was later returned to Lagos State Police Command where he distinguished himself as the Area Commander in charge of Area M Idimu.
This was his last role before his current role as Area Commander in charge of Area F Ikeja, a Police Area Command strategic for providing deft security watch over key government and private interests under the Lagos State Police Command.
A police officer who is noted for being brainy and soft-spoken, ACP Bayo Sulaiman has a BSc in Microbiology from Ekiti State University and an MSc in Business and Public Studies from Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan.
Since joining the Nigeria Police in 1996, he has attended other Police and military-related courses from the Police Mobile Force Training School; Police Staff College, Jos; and Joint Military Training, Jaji, Kaduna.
The member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), ACP Bayo Sulaiman has many awards and commendations to his name. This includes the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) award for his sterling role as a member of the Presidential Task Force for the decongestion of Apapa traffic gridlock as well as awards within and outside Lagos for his leadership of the Lagos State Task Force which spanned a decade to mention a few.
The dogged crime fighter and stickler to discipline has immense belief in the policing style which ranks community engagement, credible intelligence and technology on a high pedestal.
ACP Sulaiman brings to the Area F Command great wealth of wisdom drawn from his intellectual and training background, as well as his vast policing experience which traverses many Commands, tactical teams, and special operations across the federation.
The seasoned operational and intelligent Police officer, ACP Sulaiman hails from an Ibadan, Oyo state aristocratic family which easily had set him up for a successful career and entrepreneurial life.
In fact, his first job post-education would have come from a multinational organization where his dad held huge business partnership and stake-holding interests.
However, before he could land that job, the Police work found him as he resumed to the Police Training School on 18th August 1996. The rest, as they say, is history.
His life as a Police officer has been extremely fulfilling and rewarding. He recognizes the Police job as the best job in the world and would not trade it for any other no matter the misconceptions from any quarter.
Using his own life story, he encourages Nigerian youths who are intellectually sound in various fields to take up the Police job. ACP Bayo Sulaiman considers the prayers and inspiring words that he gets daily from the public as the best reward and motivational tonic which keeps him on the good work of keeping Nigeria safe.
