Unbundling Mbu Joseph Mbu
The Assistant Inspector General of Police for the Zone 2 Police Command, Mbu Joseph Mbu, is not your everyday cop. There is a hidden story behind his austere look. Clearly, Mbu, who graduated with a second class upper degree in Political Science from the
The Assistant Inspector General of Police for the Zone 2 Police Command, Mbu Joseph Mbu, is not your everyday cop.There is a hidden story behind his austere look.
Beyond the newspaper headlines, only a few people have met the Assistant Inspector General of Police for Zone 2, Mbu Joseph Mbu, in real life. I met him on a recent Tuesday. With the sun blazing, Lagos Island is hot. Outside, the blazing sun forces men to stand under eaves as the ocean nearby is too distant to offer comfort. But for the traffic, which is a regular feature in this part of Lagos, motorists and commuters are moving unhindered in this Lagos district known as Lagos Island. The cacophony of noise coming from slow moving cars on the Island Club Road at the frontage of his office and on the long stretch of a bridge behind his office is not so deafening to impact on our conversation.
I am arriving at the Zone 2 Police Command Headquarters at a time Mbu is on a tour of the command to observe his men and perhaps to dish out orders. Cleverly, I merge with the multitude without him knowing it. There is one conclusion I have, Mbu is a no-nonsense cop.
It’s hard before meeting him, not to form assumptions about Mbu. First, there are roles that have made him famous from when he was Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory. Second, just take a look at Mbu and you’ll feel some weight over you. But anyone expecting Mbu to be just a regular cop will be surprised. Sure, policemen in the country have lived with stereotype, but Mbu will not accept that from anyone.
For instance, when he talks about how he joined the police, it’s clear that Mbu is purpose-driven. “After my youth service, I saw some well-dressed policemen in Plateau State, and I became interested. And during the course of my studies, I discovered that a policeman is a very powerful person that is indispensable, but who must have the fear of God. However, you must be very brave,” he says.
So Mbu didn’t set out to be a policeman. It was a desire to help check excesses in a country where lawlessness reigns supreme that prompted his resolve. With a degree in political Science from the celebrated University of Lagos and as one of the best graduating students, it is not difficult to fathom why politicians and Mbu are often at loggerheads. His combined knowledge of politics and crime makes him one special cop. Of course, that may be the reason he has served in Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan cities and big-size states like Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory.
He deadpans: “What I said, and I still said I stand by it, as far as I am the AIG in charge of Zone 2 is: For any group of hooligans, lawless people, lovers of violence who attack my policemen, my policemen have orders to respond violently. They must repel them violently. Like what the League of Nations said: one for all, all for one. If one policeman is being attacked, other policemen should repel the attacker violently, because you are not going to arrest someone who is carrying arms. Have you seen the shootings in Paris and Copenhagen? Were the gunmen arrested?
“And I have told them, if they see an innocent person being attacked violently, we owe that person a duty to save his life by stopping the attacker. And do you go with bare hands to attack someone who is violently attacking someone else? No. You use violence to stop him, and I will defend the actions of the policemen.”
A couple of times, Mbu declines to comment on his days in Rivers State as police commissioner, but when he does, he feels extremely satisfied about his works there. “I did a lot in Rivers. If I enter Rivers today, everybody, including taxi drivers, will start hailing me. 89 per cent of people in Rivers State love me. I remember one of my friends who went to Port Harcourt and took a taxi from the airport. He overheard the drivers talking about how Mbu ensured peace and order in the city. If you begin to follow what people talk about you, you won’t do your job. But when people know that you will do your job, that you will not accept graft, that you will ensure that law take its course, they will respect you. I returned night-life to Port-Harcourt,” he enthuses.
It’s easy to know that Mbu is a disciplined officer who wants the same for his men. His three mobile phones trips many times as we talk, but Mbu maintains his concentration on the business at hand in his commodious office, where the main desk is entrenched close to two rolled up windows that let sunlight filters in. A stern, composed look on his face, Mbu is seated behind his grand desk where he responds to every question with the alacrity and sagacity of a studious man.
“I shake you, and train you. I don’t destroy you. Like Plato said in the theory of the form, that wood can be reshaped into different shapes – tables, chairs, cupboards, wardrobes. So, I don’t believe in destruction. I don’t believe in dismissing policemen. When I was a junior officer, they accused me of not taking drastic actions on people. But a human being is not a biro that you can break, and you call a factory and order for 50,000 pieces immediately. If you are a drunkard and you are working with me, I laugh. Any day you get drunk, I put you in a cell for one week. I want your family to come and see you there,” he explains. “I have reached the peak of my career and I am contented. But I will never allow anybody to rubbish the Nigerian Police. And I will never anybody to cower down the Nigerian police; and nobody can cower me down.”
On a comment recently attributed to him while he was addressing police officers of the Ogun State Command, which appears to be encouraging violence.
“There was never a time I addressed the press and I said if one policeman is killed, five people will be killed,” Mbu tells me. “There was never a time I addressed the press and said governors will be arrested. This is the work of mischievous reporters.
“I’m a student of political science. What brought crisis between late Awolowo and Zik was reportage – things that happened that involved the Igbo and Yoruba.”
To be sure, Mbu keeps record of his activities everywhere he goes. He lowers his head under the table attempting to show me recordings of his conversations with people to proof his point. At the same time, his hand is on his bell to call one of his aides to bring more. “I record every speech I make, but the problem is I don’t have the time to put them in writing,” he says.
I ask Mbu if he’s religious, because inside his office, a frame hangs on the wall whose content is: Policeman’s Prayer. He replies: “This seat is from God. All the seats I have occupied were brought down from God. Even today, if I am asked to leave this seat, I am ready to go. I don’t attach importance to wealth, property or my position.
“I am not a fanatic of any religion, but in the bible, there are many places that a policeman is mentioned. In the Beatitudes,
It’s hard before meeting him, not to form assumptions about Mbu. First, there are roles that have made him famous from when he was Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and the Federal Capital Territory. Second, just take a look at Mbu and you’ll feel some weight over you. But anyone expecting Mbu to be just a regular cop will be surprised. Sure, policemen in the country have lived with stereotype, but Mbu will not accept that from anyone