“If you shoot one policeman, I will shoot 100 of you” – AIG Joseph Mbu promises fire for fire

The newly posted Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone II, Joseph Mbu, paid a visit to the Ogun State Command yesterday, where he warned that going forward, the police would shoot 100 violators of peace in retaliation for any policeman shot in any violence in the forthcoming general elections.

Mbu said that even though he has come for peace, he would not accept any violence against officers and men under his command.

“That’s why I said don’t touch my policemen. If you shoot any policeman, I will shoot 20 of you, I will shoot 100 of you because we are coming to you for peace. We are not coming to you to come and kill you. You are not engaging us in gun battle. You are not armed robbers that are engaging us in gun battle. You are having communal crisis, you are politicians, we are coming to settle you and you want to kill us. I say desist, I tell you again, desist,” he said.

Speaking to his men, he said: “Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence, but don’t fire first. Anybody you see who is firing at other people, fire him because you are trying to protect that other person because the law permits you. You are empowered to stop that person from causing harm to another person.”

Mbu also quoted the constitution, saying, “It is clearly stated in the constitution that there shall be a Nigeria Police Force for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no other police force. The military can come to us in aid of civil authority. We are the civil authority because we are supposed to deal with harmless civilians. So, we are the civil authorities. In all the laws of Nigeria, there is nowhere they do not mention a police officer. So, the whole laws empower you. But you don’t know what you are. Do you want to be like pigs who do not know the value of gold? It seems to me that about 60 or 70 per cent of us are trying to behave like pigs who don’t know the value of what they have. If you love this job, the number one commandment for this job is discipline. You must be disciplined.”