A senior police officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ogbon-Inu Taiwo Popoola, has died after collapsing during an officers’ management meeting in Ebonyi State.
Sources disclosed that the incident occurred at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday while a management meeting was ongoing at the Commissioner of Police’s office, State Command headquarters in Abakaliki.
Until his death, ACP Popoola was the officer in charge of the State Intelligence Department (SID).
Witnesses said the senior officer suddenly experienced breathing difficulties and began gasping for air during the meeting. He was immediately rushed to the Police Medical Centre at the Police Headquarters in Abakaliki, where medical personnel attended to him.
Despite efforts by doctors to revive him, ACP Popoola was pronounced dead. Preliminary medical reports indicated that the cause of death was cardiac arrest resulting from hypertensive heart disease.
His remains have since been deposited at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital (AE-FUTHA 1) mortuary in Abakaliki.
Confirming the incident on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Joshua Ukandu, said the officer was not ill before the meeting.
“Yes, he had a crisis during a meeting and was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, he didn’t survive. He was not sick before the incident. If he were sick, he wouldn’t have attended the meeting,” Ukandu said.
He described the late ACP Popoola as a committed and professional officer who served the Nigeria Police Force diligently, adding that the Commissioner of Police and the entire command extended their condolences to the bereaved family.
