Tuesday February 11, 2014, marked the end of an era in the historic city of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. On that fateful day, the Rivers State Police command held a departure parade for the controversial Police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, whose tenure in the state had come to a dramatic end following his redeployment to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory FCT. It also marked the handing over ceremony of the affairs of the command by Mbu to a new CP that had been appointed to replace him. Mbu hails from Cross River State.
Farewell from Port Harcourt
The epic ceremony, which took place within the expansive premises of the Rivers State Police command located along Moscow Road, was witnessed by officers and men of the command. The parade guards, smartly dressed in their colourful red and black ceremonial suites, had taken vantage positions. While the guard of honour rostrum was set and awaiting the arrival of a man so feared in Rivers State political circle, officers and men of the command took strategic positions to, at least, have the farewell glance at their outgoing ‘oga’.
The ceremony climaxed into an open betrayal of emotions. Shortly after the formal handing over ceremony to his successor, the outgoing police boss mounted the rostrum to take the departure parade. After the brief ceremony, which did not last more than twenty minutes, Mbu was escorted into a waiting armored car by fierce-looking and gun-wielding police escorts. As Mbu was about to drive out of the command headquarters, some officers and men of the command at the parade ground broke down in tears.
One of them, a sobbing female police officer who sought for identity protection, told our reporter that she was sad at Mbu’s departure because, according to her, he was a very generous and kind hearted cop. “Many people misunderstood our oga. He is soft-minded and very caring. He is very strict and does not compromise anything with his job. He does not joke with anything that concerns the welfare of officers. Before now, imprest given to heads of departments never got to the officers, but when he came in he stopped it. He is a good man; we are going to miss him. God will be with him anywhere he is going to.”
Another police officer, who simply identified himself as Jonna, said Mbu transformed the entire command’s premises. “If you look at our command headquarters you will see what he has done. He renovated the entire premises with the state of the art facilities. He is kind-hearted who always said: ‘I will not sack you because when you lose your job as a police officer, who will take care of your family. Instead of that, I will discipline you.’ Mbu is a nice man and we will miss him a great deal,” Jonna said.
But if officers and men of the Rivers State police command felt they would miss Mbu because he was a ‘nice man’, the same could not be said about him by many others, particularly within the circles of the state government. Despite his good virtues as professed by officers and men of the command, Mbu meant different things to different people; especially among the political class. Little wonder that his redeployment was greeted by anti- and pro-Mbu protests.
Mbu in the eyes of his critics, colleagues:
Mr Uwem Umoh is a former course-mate of Mbu at the Police Staff College, Jos. When Sunday Trust sought to know from Umoh whether Mbu had been such a tough police officer, the response was in the negative. According to Umoh, Mbu “was a very calm, cool, quiet and obedient young man. He had just graduated from the University of Lagos, where he obtained a degree in Political Science. We were in the same class, for the one year training from December 11, 1984 to December 1985, to qualify as Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). Mbu was not the kind that would ruffle feathers.”
In terms of academic performance in the college, Umoh, who is now a journalist, said: “Mbu was an average student; neither dull nor outstanding. When he was being called names in Rivers State, I began to laugh. Apparently, he was acting the script given to him from the presidency. He was caught in the political crisis - the divergence of interests between the governor and elements in the Presidency. And, I tell you, what happened in Rivers State is exactly why we cannot have state police in Nigeria. Governors would want to control the security apparatus, while the government at the centre would also want to determine how the police should function in every part of Nigeria. What played out in Rivers under Mbu is exactly what would happen in every state, if the idea of state police sails through in the current amendment to the 1999 Constitution.”
On Mbu’s posting to Abuja, Umoh said: “It’s like being compensated for being an obedient servant in a very tough environment. Abuja is seen as a lucrative beat. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister will give him a good budget, and he would be very close to the Presidency. For instance, if Jonathan is travelling out of Abuja, what in Police is called ‘Tiger Movement,’ Mbu will be in charge of the route lining. That is a lot of money. In Abuja, Mbu would have a lot of responsibilities, but his closeness to Aso Rock Villa would compensate for the demanding tasks. He would have it easy because FCT Minister is in the good books of the President and the First Lady. In Abuja, he will enjoy himself.”
Before Mbu was posted as commissioner in charge of states, he was the Commissioner in charge of Corp Education. His responsibility was to administer police primary and secondary schools across the country, and his office was at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
A senior police officer in Port-Harcourt told Sunday Trust that Mbu was actually down-to-earth in decision making and very considerate. But that while in Rivers, he found it difficult to stay away from politics.
The officer said, “He is a thorough officer, who has the interest of his subordinate at heart, but his actions were later politicized. He was very hard working because he was able to reduce kidnappings and armed robbery considerably. He ensure that the traffic situation improved. We recovered over 160 arms from armed robbers during one raid under his supervision. I can confidently confirm that Rivers has less robbery and kidnap cases, compared to the time he came. He has a good system of reward and punishment, to the extent that he will make his officers to work and reward them at the end. Unfortunately, he found himself in a very difficult situation in which he succumbed to the demands of some politicians. He did not assess situations before taking actions. He allowed politicians to use him to achieve what they wanted and he did not realize that until it was too late. It was actually against the ethics of good policing for an officer to identify with a particular side, especially in political situations like the one in Rivers State. And the funny part is that politicians can tell you something which will turn out to be different from what they mean.”
He said Mbu can turn around policing in Abuja if he can avoid politics. “He will improve the traffic situation in Abuja and introduce new crime prevention strategies but must avoid politics.
He carries all his officers along. Though, he did not regret his actions in Rivers, I believe he has learned a lesson. Abuja is not like Rivers, there is no governor, so he will not encounter any problem. In Rivers he ran into politics.”
For Mr Ben Okezie, an expert on security matters, Mbu, is among the grade ‘A’ officers of the Nigeria Police Force. “Here is an officer that graduated from the University of Lagos where he made second class upper grade in Political Science, and got enlisted as a cadet officer in 1985. Besides, he has worked in virtually every part of the country. His first major posting was as the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ukwa-East and Isiala-Ngwa Local government Area of Abia State”, Okezie said.
According Okezie, Mbu’s insistence on discipline made the commissioner to upgrade him as the State Command’s Provost and later as the Head of Management in the Abia State Command. It is on record that Mbu is one of the few officers in the police with zero-tolerance for corruption and indiscipline. When he was the Federal Highway Commander in-charge of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States, motorists were daily applauding every of his leadership qualities.
His performance in those states brought him to limelight, culminating in his being made Chairman of the Federal Task Force on petroleum in Niger State.
According to Okezie, Mbu was also appointed Area Commander in Minna where he received an award as the best area commander in Niger State, saying: “When robbery was getting out of hand in Delta State, it was Mbu that was picked and posted to Ugheli, and again he was decorated as the best Area Commander in Delta State.”
“His rise, which is in tandem with hardwork, resulted in his posting as Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration in Anambra State command. He became a ready tool of positive change in the police when the police colleges in the country were decapitating and contractors were having a field day and swimming in corrupt and sharp practices.
“Mbu was posted to rescue the sinking police primary and secondary schools. Before he was posted out of the education unit, Mbu had successfully restored the dignity and falling standard of all the 55 primary schools and seven police secondary schools in the country. It was during his brief tenure that police officers’ confidence was restored to send their children to police schools and secondary schools.
‘It was, therefore, not surprising when he was moved and made chairman of the monitoring and implementation committee of Police Housing Projects when it was discovered that contractors were conniving to deliver low quality jobs to the detriment of the Force. Like him or hate him, Mbu is an officer of repute”, Okezie said.
Mbu’s cocktail of controversies in Rivers
For Mr Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the eventual redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State marked the end of a bad dream. It was against this premise that Okocha told journalists in Port Harcourt shortly after the redeployment was announced that he might go to Church for a thanksgiving as a result of the removal of the Police cop.
Mbu was redeployed to Rivers State from Oyo State. He took over from Muhammed Ndagaba, who was said to have enjoyed a very robust relationship with Governor Amaechi. If Amaechi thought such a cordial working relationship he enjoyed with Mbu’s predecessor would be maintained, he was wrong. Mbu’s reign as the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State turned out to be dogged by a tsunami of controversies, occasioned by the protracted political crisis in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which culminated into the defection of Governor Amaechi from PDP to APC.
Governor Amaechi publicly accused Mbu of heading the military wing of the PDP as well as hobnobbing with politicians in the PDP with whom Amaechi was entangled in a fierce battle for the continued dominance of the political space in the State. Mbu, on his part, accused Governor Amaechi of being a dictator who wants to use him to harass and intimidate his political opponents. Mbu alleged that Amaechi treated him like an orderly when he newly resumed in the State, asking him to accompany him to inspect projects in the State.
Both Governor Amaechi and Mbu had maintained a cat-and-dog relationship throughout the period the later was in the State. Their cold relationship worsened when the Police, on January 12, prevented the Save Rivers Movement, an arm of Amaechi’s campaign organization from holding a rally at the State-owned College of Arts and Science. Senator Magnus Abe, who represents South-East Senatorial District, alleged that he was shot by the Police at a pointblank with a rubber bullet.
A week later, political thugs disrupted another Save Rivers Movement rally at Bori. Consequently on Tuesday January, 14th, the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, led by Senator Paulinus Nwangu visited the State on a fact-finding mission. But before then, the National Assembly had mandated both the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission to transfer Mbu out of the State, as a result of his irreconcilable differences with Amaechi; a mandate which failed on deaf ears.
The cat and dog relationship between Amaechi and Mbu had polarized the State along political divides. While Amaechi and his supporters had insisted that Mbu should go, Nyeson Wike and his groups said the commissioner should remain. This led to pro- and anti-Mbu rallies that were held in the State, calling for either his or his continued stay in the State. Interestingly, one of the pro-Mbu rallies was held in Okrika by the kinsmen of Dame Patience Jonathan where they had threatened to shut down Port Harcourt refinery if Mbu was removed. This was followed by another pro-Mbu rally held by Wike’s Ikwerre ethnic group where they also threatened to shut down Port Harcourt International Airport if Mbu was removed.
On its part, Amaechi’s group held a rally where the governor’s supporters chronicled Mbu’s alleged breaches of human rights and insisted that the Police cop should be redeployed from the State. A dramatic twist was introduced into it when Professor Wole Soyinka, a strong supporter of Governor Amaechi, had at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osun State suggested that Mbu should be transferred to Borno State to fight the menace of Boko Haram.
The interim Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of APC, Dr Davis Ikanya, had also requested that Mbu should be redeployed to Borno State to confront Boko Haram. “We totally agree with Soyinka’s recommendation that CP Mbu should be sent to where his skills are needed most, since his use of minimum force could send a serving Senator to London hospital. If he is permitted to use maximum force, the menace of Boko Haram will be a thing of past. We, therefore, join the respected Nobel Laureate in pleading with the Presidency to redeploy Mbu,” Ikanya had stated.
But for the embattled CP Mbu, his problem with Governor Amaechi was simply due to his refusal to play to the gallery. Mbu, in a recent interview with another newspaper, said: “All the propaganda by the governor is aimed at pushing me away from Rivers State by force so that a puppet that the governor can kick and shout at could be posted.”
Drawing a parallel between his relationships with Amaechi and Oyo State governor where he had worked previously, Mbu said: “I enjoyed my relationship with Governor Ajimobi. He is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member, but we worked closely to fight crime in Oyo State. At 2.00am, Ajimobi would call and seek my advice and I would tell him what to do. Up till now, my relationship with members of Oyo State House of Assembly is strong. If I am travelling to Ibadan, I buy fish for the Speaker. Even, as I am here, the Speaker still sends me text messages. They are in the opposition party. Ajimobi came out to say that I was the finest officer he had seen in the Police. If Governor Ajimobi travels, he would call me and ask for my shoe size. We were very close, but he knew my stand on issues and he did not witch-hunt his opponents.
He (referring to Ajumobi) is not a tyrant. He is highly respected. He does not force people to respect him, he exudes respect. He talks to you himself. He calls me personally. I am the one who conducted the election that brought Governor Adams Oshiomhole back to power in Edo State. My IGP sent me there to do the right thing. The IGP gave me enough money and I paid everybody and I refused to collect any kobo from any politician.”
On the genesis of his problem with Governor Amaechi, Mbu was quoted in the interview as saying: “A lot of things were wrong in the command when I resumed. If the governor wanted to hold a meeting with his commanders, he would ask his Aide De Camp (ADC), an Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police, to call me a few hours to the meeting. I would ask: ‘Is that how you hold meetings here? The state where I came from, the personnel in the Chief of Staff’s Office would write the service commanders and attach the agenda for the meeting as well as the minute of the last Security meeting. But I have not seen it happened in Rivers State.”
Chairman of Rivers State chapter of PDP, Felix Obuah who described Mbu as a fearless and diligent police officer noted that Mbu’s redeployment was in line with the routine posting of security personnel. “Mbu is a very thorough professional Police Officer and he deserves his master’s recommendation. He demonstrated during his brief stay in Rivers State that he is disciplined professional Police Officer. We wish him well in his new posting,” Obuah stated.
Mbu’s tenure in Oyo Police Command
The tenure of Mbu Joseph Mbu as the commissioner of Police in Oyo State between October 2012 and July 2013 was also said to have been marked with controversies, though it was not as widely publicized as the Rivers case. For instance, while in Oyo State, Mbu specifically read the Riot Act by declaring ‘hard times’ for political parties in the state. He categorically stated that his own Police command had banned any form of political rally and campaign in the state.
While speaking with journalists at the state police headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, the state capital, Mbu had reportedly threatened to arrest members of any political party that violated the provisions of the 2010 Electoral Act. “There is an Electoral Act as amended which stipulates when political parties can go on campaigns and rallies, they can only do this when there is an approaching election and this must be 90 days before the election. And since there is no coming election in the state, it is illegal for any political party in the state to embark on any form of rally or campaign. This prohibition applies to all the political parties in the state and I am using this medium to warn members of the political parties to obey the prohibition in their own interest, failure of which the full weight of the law will be meted to them”, Mbu was quoted as saying.
While in Oyo, Mbu was reported to have warned that apart from himself as the Police Commissioner, others permitted to use siren include the state governor, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), the heads of other security agencies in the state and those on essential duty such as hospital ambulance and fire service. He maintained that it was illegal for the operatives of the state security service,’ Operation Burst’ among others to use siren, stating that a monitoring team would be set up immediately to enforce the ban on those not entitled to use siren.
The Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, was said to have had cause to berate the State Police Command, during Mbu’s tenure in Ibadan “for aiding and abetting criminality by providing security cover for an Oyo chief, Alhaji Ganiyu Ajiboye, who had earlier been charged to court on an alleged criminal offence and granted bail.”
Ajiboye, who was installed as Baale of Ago Oja in Oyo town by the immediate past administration, and whose title a high court had declared as non-existent in the Oyo state Chiefs Law, was shortly before then, charged before an Iyaganku Magistrate’s Court for violating a perpetual High Court order, which had restrained him from further parading himself as an oba.
Addressing Mbu, who had paid a courtesy visit to the Alaafin’s Palace, Oba Adeyemi described the police action as a manifestation of ineptitude and crass violation of what they stand for, and that it was an act capable of undermining the sincerity of the force in the enforcement of law and order. However, Mbu had solicited the support and cooperation of the Alaafin in the area of information supply, saying, “We are your children. Whenever we make mistakes, as our father, endeavor to call your son, the Area Commander, to intimate him. If he cannot handle the situation, I will intervene, and if any of my aides misbehave, I will sanction them.”
Challenges before Mbu in the FCT
Although his former course mate at the Police College, Jos Mr Uwen Umoh sees Mbu’s redeployment to Abuja as ‘compensation’, other security experts and analysts say it may no longer be business as usual for the ‘Riot Act cop’ in the nation’s capital. Coming in the election year, when the nation’s capital would be saturated with political activities and rallies, it is believed that Mbu may be facing a tough task, especially if he employs the ‘Riot Act’ approach in policing the FCT.
Abubakar Tsav, a former Lagos State Police Commissioner, under whose command Mbu once worked, advised the cop to be careful in his approach to policing the FCT, more so that he would be working in the nation’s capital where the seat of power is located.
Culled from Sunday Trust
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