Patience Ibekwe Abdullah, Nigeria’s First Female Deputy Inspector General of Police is a leader who is passionate about solving the problem of violence across the country. She is one of the leading women in Nigeria making being distinguished for their great deeds.
She was born on the 7th of April, 1963 in Odoje village, Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria. She was born into the family of Mr Mike Ibekwe, who was the former commissioner of police in charge of the old East Central State of Nigeria in 1970, shortly after the end of the Nigerian Civil War. She is happily married to Mustapha Abdallah who was the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of Nigeria.
29 years ago, Patience joined the police force as a cadet officer. She was then promoted in 2015 by being appointed as the commissioner of police in Ebonyi state. She brought about the introduction of “Show of force” and “Walk down crime” in Ebonyi state as a means to eliminate violence.
Patience Ibekwe is has a strong passion for the protection of lives and properties, making it her most important obligation.
Due to her zeal and passion for the security of the people, she was titled “NNE Oma” which means good mother by the Okada Riders Union.
She partnered with various stakeholders in the state to encourage understanding and cooperation and act this yielded positive results. She mandated the removal of irrelevant checkpoints which was supposedly used to exploit motorcyclists.
She was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector-General at the 27th Plenary meeting of Police Service Commission which ended in Abuja on Friday, 20th of April 2018. Her promotion took effect on Thursday, 1st of November, 2018. She was the only woman appointed among her colleagues.
Prior to her advancement as the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, she served as an assistant Inspector-General of police at the office of the National Security Adviser, The President where she made an impact in ensuring national security.
She retired from the Nigerian Police Force on the 28th of January, 2019 following the convention that proposes the retirement of senior police chiefs when an officer junior to them in service or lower in rank is appointed to lead the police force.
Patience is unquestionably an exemplary leader.
