Ojo Maduekwe: "All Hail The Lion"

September 20, 2014

“I, the lion, tamed the Leopard in Rivers State”, said a former Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Joseph Mbu, this week when he consciously stepped outside the professional precinct to throw jibes at the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. In this report, Ojo M. Maduekwe, analyses his recent outburst within the context of his stint as police commissioner in the state

It would be the career highpoint of every Police Force Public Relations Officer (PRO) Nigeria has ever had if Nigerians are convinced that the police are their friend. Some, like the immediate past PRO, Frank Mba, genuinely did their best to project a friendly police force to the Nigerian public.

The new PRO, Emmanuel Ojukwu, during the handover ceremony added in his acceptance speech that, “the Police are your helper and friend.”

But the conduct of officers such as the former Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, remains bad publicity that could ruin their efforts.

Before his redeployment to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, as the Commissioner of Police for the FCT, and later elevated to the position of an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mbu was always in the news in a confrontational manner with the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

Their dispute stemmed from accusations of bias and unprofessionalism. Many described Mbu’s handling of differences between him and Amaechi to have been rather political than professional. THISDAY had published an article then titled, ‘Mbu Joseph Mbu: Police or Politician?’ The piece stated in part: “Ever since the crisis in Rivers State broke, Mbu has brazenly shown partisan tendencies, making many to wonder whether he is a policeman or a politician.”

Governor Amaechi at the time had accused him of being on a mission to the state and that he was working for the First Lady. Indeed, he further described him as the military wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The disagreement degenerated to the point that there was a clamour in the media, led by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), for either the sack or redeployment of Mbu, a campaign that would later necessitate his redeployment to Abuja.

One may never know the exact truth behind the dispute, and so some could argue that if properly analysed, the governor would probably be found partly guilty for engineering the disputes. However, such a position, observers insisted, could only have been taken by those who failed to interpret Mbu’s leadership of the police in the state, side-by-side with his antecedents.

But for Mbu, who is a high ranking police officer, his recent comment concerning the months spent in Rivers as Police Commissioner has shown that his years of experience in the force have done little to influence his professional conduct and to a large extent, his attitudinal disposition.

Recently, after he was redeployed from Commissioner of Police FCT, and made the AIG for Zone 7, Abuja, Mbu, while handing over to his successor, Mr Wilson Inalegu boasted: “I, the lion, tamed the Leopard in Rivers State. It is only lion that can tame leopard. Each time the leopard remembers my face, it makes noise, but if it knows I am around, it cannot make noise.”

Although he made no mention of who the leopard was, being that aside his confrontation with the Bring Back Our Girls group, wherein he banned their gathering, Amaechi was the only personality Mbu has disagreed with publicly.

Even though he once claimed to respect Amaechi and his office, Mbu, as Rivers State Commissioner of Police, earned national notoriety by harassing and disrespecting Amaechi and his supporters. He gave as little as nothing to the office of the governor in terms of respect.
Responding to Mbu’s claim of taming him, Amaechi, in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, described Mbu as a puppet who lacks the steel and strength of a lion.

Part of the statement read: “This character called Joseph Mbu completely lacks the courage, steel and strength of a lion. Rather, he is a shameless, corrupt puppet of a woman. How can a man who has no strength of character, a man who willingly submits himself to serve as a puppet of a woman call himself a lion?”

In the statement, the governor made an argument that should enlighten every police officer of their duties to the society. Amaechi said of Mbu: “This is a man paid by taxpayers to protect, secure and serve the interests of the people. But when he was in Rivers State, he spurned the people, trampled on the masses.”

Amaechi’s argument could be considered under what is globally termed ‘the Nine Principles of Policing’, as coined by Robert Peel.
In 1829, the first modern police force was created in London by then home secretary, Robert Peel. Peel’s policing principles formed the basis for foundation of the London Metropolitan Police Force, and was reported to have been the precursor to and model for all police forces in Canada and the United States of America. Part of the principles that underscore Mbu’s actions and outburst as being unprofessional are listed as follows:

The police must remember “To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect; to recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.”

Also the police are advised “To recognise always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives; to seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion;

“But by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.”

Lastly, “To maintain at all times, a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

Mbu may argue that his actions as Commissioner of Police in Rivers, was him fulfilling his professional duties. But, how true was that? Was his unilateral banning of the peaceful gathering of the Bring Back Our Girls group, an action that was overruled by the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, another way of him fulfilling his professional duties?

What about the time he was alleged to have led a team of policemen, few months before he was moved to Rivers, to raid the palace of the Olubadan, allegedly on orders from above?

Irrespective of his many misdemeanours, Mbu’s indiscretions have over the months been rewarded with redeployment and now elevation. Even though at a time, a former Inspector General of Police, who now heads the Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, said Mbu’s conduct in Rivers was being probed, his recent elevation and continuous outburst, has fuelled the assumption by many that Mbu has Abuja connections up to Aso Rock.

Even with a thousand Force PRO’s seeking to rebrand the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerians would continue to view the force with suspicion; except actions and utterances of officers like that of Mbu are checked.

As an AIG, many would reckon that Mbu’s elevation is of no benefit to the society, which he is by law sworn to police; unless he is tamed and properly trained to understand that the principles of policing all over the world is community-based and unbiased.

This article was sourced from here.