The new Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 2, Joseph Mbu, has sounded a note of warning to governors and politicians in the zone, comprising Lagos and Ogun States, with unruly attitude during the upcoming elections, saying they will be promptly arrested.
Mbu stated this on Thursday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during his official visit to the Ogun State police command headquarters, Eleweran.
The controversial police boss ordered the men of the command, who would be on election duty, to arrest promptly anyone caught with arms near the voting centres.
He said, “I am here to encourage, support and advice you because we have a critical part to play in the forthcoming elections.
“Our actions and activities will go a long way to decide on this election, so, I have come to tell you that we must remain impartial in ensuring free, fair, peaceful and violent-free polls.
“As far as the law is concerned, we are not going to respect anybody and whoever is coming to the booth should vote and leave peacefully.
“Anyone who comes there to campaign even if it is the chief executive of the state, a constable at that polling booth would stop him”.
Mbu, who again debunked the notion that he was sent to the zone ahead of the forthcoming polls to carry out a hatchet job on behalf of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, recalled that he had been commissioner in Oyo, Ekiti and Rivers states as well as in the Federal Capital Territory. He said his current posting as the AIG in charge of Zone 2, was not in any way different from his previous assignments.
He said, “I am here to make sure everywhere is calm; I am not here at Zone 2 only for elections. The Zone 2 must not just fail during the elections. I am here to make sure everything goes on peacefully, but the police will arrest anybody that commits any electoral offences.
“Anybody found with arms would be arrested by the police and anyone that cannot be arrested; we will recover the arms by force.
“No politician or any of their followers must shoot at any policeman; if you shoot at any policeman, my policemen would shoot back in self-defence.
“Our duty is to make sure that the elections are conducted freely, fairly and peacefully and violence-free. There must be a code of conduct that you have to uphold to make sure that we actualise our goals”.
Talking about his widely publicized face-off with the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, Mbu said the media worked against him by refusing to hear his own side of the story.
He said, “I was not popular in Rivers State; you (media) made me unpopular in Rivers State. I was popular in Oyo State. I was popular in Abuja when I was CP of FCT and when I was AIG.
“In Rivers State, you people (media) were not hearing my side of the story; because the other party was richer, so you were not hearing my story”.