APC Blasts Joseph Mbu

The recent controversial statement by the Assistant Inspector General of police, Joseph Mbu, has generated numerous reactions.

Speaking February 12 about the forthcoming elections, Mbu, who now oversees Zone 2 comprising the Lagos and Ogun Commands, declared:
 “If one of my men is killed, I shall kill twenty of them but don’t shoot first.”

According to The Nation, the All Progressives Congress(APC) expressed outrage over Mbu’s attitude calling it barbaric. The major opposition party urged the Nigerian authorities to call the police official to order before he proceeds with his dangerous sayings.

The statement by APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, read:
“The temperament, comportment, utterances and actions of Mbu, a very senior police officer, are capable of inciting mass killings, violence and anarchy.

“Since his posting to the Zone 2 Command, this contumacious policeman has exhibited an egregious act of lawlessness by barging through the Lekki Toll Plaza without paying toll and then ordering the arrest of policemen and workers at the Plaza. Is it not an irony that a man who is trained to enforce the law is the same who is breaking the law?

“But that action, as bad as it was, pales into insignificance when compared to his most recent statement in which he was basically inciting the police against the citizenry and encouraging the killing of civilians. It is sheer irresponsibility for a senior policeman to say that for every policeman who is killed during the election, he will kill 20 civilians.
“Lest we are misunderstood, our party will never condone the killing of police personnel or of any law enforcement agent for whatever reason, just as we will not condone the killing of any innocent Nigerian. If a senior police officer does not know how to convey to his officers and men that they should protect themselves while also avoiding extra-judicial killing of any citizen, then the funds spent in training him have been wasted.”

The APC stressed that Mbu should be held solely responsible for any violence or killing of innocent citizens in his area before, during and after the polls.

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