Mbu's recent posting to Lagos has stirred speculations that the Assistant Inspector-General of Police has been planted to work against the interest of the All Progressive Congress. Speaking to some journalists, Mr Joseph Mbu clears the air on this and sheds more light on his disagreement with governor Amaechi, stating that Amaechi is arrogant, full of himself and that has caused their constant misunderstanding.
"But one thing I can tell you is that the governor had no respect for my office as the Commissioner of Police. On four occasions, he sent his orderly to me and I told the ADC never to call my line again, that the governor should call me. Other service commanders were complaining of similar treatment, but I did not talk to them because everyone has his own style. Second, when the governor started talking to me, he did so as if I was his orderly- he will say “CP, CP, look, do you know what is happening here?” I now called him and said: “Your Excellency, you are the governor of Rivers State and I am the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State. You are the de-jure chief security officer of the state and I am the de-facto chief security officer of the state. At the state security meeting, you are the chairman and I am your deputy. In your absence, I chair the meeting. When you are talking to me, let there be some decorum, like ‘How are you my CP? How is the state? You see, in Oyo State, the governor called me ‘my brother’, and ‘my CP.’ I told governor Amaechi that we are not in a master-servant relationship and that is the way it should be. That was another point. Number three, I do not know his problem with the First Lady. You see, I do not know the First Lady physically other than sighting her on television. I had not met her physically, but as the Commissioner of Police, I was duty-bound to provide security for her each time she visited the state, that also includes anyone I am called upon from Abuja to provide security for; let alone the wife of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He got angry each time I went to receive the President’s wife," Amechi said.
He went further to explain, "When I was in Oyo State, each time Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, was coming home, I provided security for her until she goes back. There was never a day Governor Ajimobi questioned my action. He never did; he is not that petty. And I told Governor Amaechi that ‘Your Excellency, your enemy is not my enemy’ - the same thing I told Governor Ajimobi in Oyo State. I said if former Governor Alao-Akala invited me, I will go, ditto for former governor Rasheed Ladoja. But when they start to talk politics, I will leave. Ajimobi holds that state spell-bound; he called me on many issues and I advised him on how to handle them very well, but governor in Rivers State is so arrogant, so full of himself.
Mr. Joseph Mbu is also positive that speculations of him working against APC was based on his sour relationship with Governor Amechi. According to Mbu, "For APC in Lagos to have started demonising me, even before seeing me, but relying on propaganda they were fed with from Rivers State by that governor, that very arrogant governor that I tamed, is unfortunate....Now let me come to the main point. The APC people in Lagos, not APC in general, who are accusing and attacking me with all kinds of vituperations that I was sent here to act a script, let me go down memory lane. I can recall why I was sent to Oyo State, I was told the governor observed that there were lots of criminals in Oyo and that he wanted a very tough and high-handed Commissioner of Police in the state. Interestingly, we disagreed at the beginning over the composition of Operation Bust - the anti-robbery outfit in the state. For about a month, we were not on talking terms. The outfit was reconstituted and the police constituted over 90 per cent of the personnel. There were these groups of National Union of Road Transport Workers - Tokyo and Auxiliary, who were demi-gods, who thought they were above the law. We got information that they were coming to destabilise the state. We told them we were there for peace and anyone who dares my policemen will be dealt with. This was then an ACN state, yet we rose and declared the two of them wanted for murder, since there were allegations against them. I arrested, detained and charged them to court and they were granted bail and a new NURTW executive was sworn in.
Was I working for PDP then? Was it not an APC state? Also when I was there, I visited Alaafin of Oyo and he complained that the police were chicken-hearted, that we could not enforce the law. He said that the former government, in order to disgrace him, appointed one man as Asipa but when he was removed by court, the judgment was not enforced. And even when Asipa went to Court of Appeal, the appeal was not in his favour. Previous Commissioners of Police were too lily-livered to enforce the court judgment. The governor was in Hong Kong. He called me and complained that the Alaafin was not talking to him, that the Oba was bitter that he has been humiliated in the whole of Oyo by that inaction. Upon hearing this, I met with the Commissioner for Justice and my legal team looked into the court judgment and they resolved that we can go ahead to enforce it.
On the 31st of January, 2013, I put a call to the Asipa and told him to stop parading himself as such, and the next day, I went there with some gallant officers and we discovered that he had left the place honourably. I ask you again, was I working for PDP or APC then?
Number three, information came that Senator Teslim Folarin, former Senate Leader, had arms and thugs in his house. I took my men there in mufti and conducted effective search with the view to arresting whoever is found to be culpable. PDP never accused me of working for APC then. Now, you have heard my case, is it fair to demonise me this way? Do you know that when I was there, the Commissioners’ Quarters was like a forest? The Police Headquarters too was in a bad shape, but with government assistance, we transformed those places. Throughout my stay, there was no armed robbery. The only robbery attempt we had was repelled, the DPO Sani mounted the APC and pursued the robbers and drove them off. That was the only robbery incident in the state during my tenure. Go and check my records.
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