Nigeria has over 200 million people. It has tens of millions of bank account holders. Yet, according to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), N100 million from the Anambra State Government’s security vote account somehow found its way — by mistake — into the personal Zenith Bank account of Victor Egbetokun, son of the erstwhile Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun. Of all the accounts in all the banks in the country, it landed there.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, offered the explanation on Channels Television on Monday evening, saying Victor noticed the N100 million, alerted his accounts officer, reversed the funds immediately, printed his bank statement as proof, and even wrote a petition to the EFCC demanding investigation. It was, Hundeyin insisted, a banking error; clean, innocent, and promptly corrected.
EDITOR’S PICKS
The explanation is not impossible. Erroneous bank transfers do happen. But the circumstances strain credulity in ways that ordinary Nigerians and even seasoned financial crime investigators would find hard to dismiss.
There are 237.5million Nigerians. The Anambra State Government was going to make an erroneous N100m transfer but it did not land in the account of you reading this or me or the possible 237.5million others.
Instead, the Anambra State government transferred funds from the…
— 'Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) February 25, 2026
Out of 200m account holders in Nigeria, it was only the former IGP’s son’s account that N100m entered by mistake.
Expensive mistake.
— Morris Monye (@Morris_Monye) February 25, 2026
Security vote accounts are not standard payroll accounts. They are tightly controlled, politically sensitive pools of funds meant for confidential security operations. The bureaucratic chain required to authorise a transfer from such an account is not accidental. Someone, somewhere, inputted a specific account number. That account number belonged to the son of the nation’s top police officer.
The allegation, first reported by SaharaReporters and amplified by activist Omoyele Sowore, claimed the funds were transferred from the Anambra State Security Vote VI account domiciled with Sterling Bank into Victor’s Zenith Bank account in September 2025.
Rather than immediately welcoming an independent investigation, the police response was striking in its defensiveness. Court orders were obtained restraining Sowore and SaharaReporters from further publications on the matter. Critics argued that someone with nothing to hide would welcome transparency.
The N100 million episode was not, however, an isolated storm in Egbetokun’s tenure. His time as IGP was marked by an accumulation of controversies that ultimately appeared to cost him the job.
President Bola Tinubu, who appointed Egbetokun in June 2023, asked for his resignation on Monday, February 23, 2026, and replaced on Tuesday with AIG Tunji Disu, with sources within the Villa citing the sheer weight of scandals surrounding the outgoing police chief.
Among the most damaging was the allegation of improper promotions tied to personal relationships, which the police spokesperson has denied.
ACP Bukola Yemisi Kuti, a Principal Staff Officer in the IGP’s office, reportedly rose from junior ranks to Assistant Commissioner of Police within roughly ten years, far outpacing contemporaries who remained at Superintendent level.
Multiple insiders attributed her rapid ascent to an alleged romantic relationship with Egbetokun, a claim the police denied. A second female officer, Yemisi Ademosu, who began as Egbetokun’s orderly and reportedly accompanied him on official and personal trips, was alleged to have been promoted from ASP to DSP without writing or passing the mandatory promotion examination. Internal resentment over these elevations reportedly unsettled police formations nationwide.
FURTHER READING
The N100 million transfer may yet be exactly what the police say it was: an embarrassing bank error, reversed and reported. But in the context of everything else that defined Egbetokun’s tenure, Nigerians can be forgiven for asking a simple question, one that no court injunction can permanently suppress: what are the chances?
Philip Ibitoye is a Special Correspondent with EKO HOT BLOG. Click here to find daily analysis and critical insight on trending issues in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
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