Parry Osayande

Early life and education Born in Benin City on 29 September 1936 to the family of Chief Osazuwa Osayande. His father was an Agricultural Officer. His mother was Princess Ebose Eweka, a housewife. Parry Osayande schooled at the Immaculate Conception College, Benin City, between 1954 and 1958. These uprisings led to the death of thousands of people. Osayande held the position of Commissioner of Police in charge of Police Budget for five years. He would later become Commissioner in charge of Benue state command, Makurdi in 1985. Osayande was Commissioner of police in charge of Bendel state in 1986 and Commissioner of Police in charge of Cross River and Akwa Ibom State between 1988 and 1990. In 1990, Osayande was made Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Force Operations at Lagos and later in 1992, he headed the force intelligence and investigation bureau, Lagos. During his time as Deputy Inspector General of Police, Osayande directed the operations which aimed at restoring peace to Bauchi and later on Kano.

Anini Saga In the 1980s, Lawrence Anini an armed bandit terrorised the Nigerian landscape. Anini hailed from the defunct Bendel state and had a reputation for being armed and highly dangerous. Due to his blood relation to the Oba of Benin, Osayande was sent to Benin to arrest Anini. It was one of the earliest episodes in the history of crime detection in the Nigeria Police dating back to 1961 that crime detection became tribalised. Osayande was made Commissioner of Police in charge of Bendel State for a year and on 3 December 1986, Anini was captured.

Honours and awards Osayande received several awards for his service to Nigeria. Among his awards include the Commander of the Federal republic of Nigeria (CFR), Officer of the order of the Niger (OFR) Nigerian Police Medal (NPM); Fellow of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, England (RIPA), Officer of the City of Atmore, USA; Member of the National Institute (MNI) and Distinguished Citizen of Edo state.