The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, has set up a committee that will liaise with the family of the late IG, Sunday Adewusi, to organise a befitting burial for the deceased, who died at the National Hospital, Abuja on Tuesday night at 79.

The police had also opened a condolence register at the force headquarters in Abuja in honour of Adewusi, who was the IG between 1981 and 1983.

The committee, it was learnt, was made up of top police officers. Meanwhile, Arase and the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, have expressed sadness over the death of the former IG.

Arase in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, on Wednesday in Abuja, described Adewusi as "a Nigerian hero who served his nation proudly, as a police officer, even at retirement, he was a transformational leader whose tenure as the Inspector-General of Police between 1981 and 1983 remains impactful, across several generations of police officers."

The IG noted that throughout his life, Adewusi remained a strong member of the police family, as he attended all police official events, even up to the last Nigeria's independence anniversary celebration.

Adewusi, according to the IG, was a beacon of hope to the Nigeria Police Force, noting that he remained an advocate of policing throughout his life.

He said though "the Nigeria police family mourned the loss of a great police icon, the same family also celebrates his remarkable life and hoped that it serves as an example to all and sundry across the nation, to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves."

The IG urged the families, friends and all Nigerians to take solace in the knowledge that Adewusi had gone to be with his Maker and "he is surely resting in the bosom of the Almighty God." Ahmed in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, said Adewusi's death was a national loss of immense proportions.

He added that the late ex-IG was a police officer who not only rose to the pinnacle of his career but contributed immensely to nation building.

According to the governor, the ex-IG who lived in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, for many years was an elder statesman whose vast experience in security matters was of great value to the state and Nigeria at large.

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, on Wednesday described Adewusi's death as a colossal national loss. Zulu-Gambari in a statement described the late Adewusi as a diligent police officer who rose to become the youngest Commissioner Police in the history of Nigeria at the age of 32 and later became the IG at the age of 45.

Also, an elder statesman, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, has mourned Adewusi, who died in Abuja, on Tuesday, at the age of 79.

The 99-year-old Fasanmi, who spoke with one of Punch correspondents in a telephone interview, on Wednesday, described Adewusi as a quintessential policeman who was passionate about his job.