Joseph MBU
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Lagos, Joseph Mbu, has again defied popular opinion by insisting that there is nothing untoward in the number of people that can be killed by policemen under his command in self-defence.
Mbu, who made this assertion while chatting with some journalists on the sideline of the inauguration of the Olorunsogo II Power Station by President Goodluck Jonathan in Olorunsogo, Ogun State, said since policemen were also humans, they should be ready to take revenge on any violent group(s) that might attack them or other innocent citizens.
The AIG told the newsmen, who had approached him to clarify a controversial statement credited to him that 20 civilians would be shut for every policeman killed, that he would stand his ground.
According to him, “I still stand by what I said. And what I said is very clear: that if any violent group attacks my policemen, my policemen should attack them violently.
“If any violent group attacks a law-abiding citizen in a bid to cause injury or cause harm, the police should repel and save that law-abiding citizen because we have the powers to do so.
“If hoodlums or touts decide to be lawless; carrying knives, carrying illegal firearms and shooting at my policemen, if they shoot at my policemen and they are a hundred or 200, my policemen will not be looking at them. They will reply back in self-defence.
“The number I kill is immaterial because a policeman is also a human being.”
On whether his strategy of fire-for-fire is the best way to handle the situation, Mbu answered, “Which other way do you think you can handle it? You will shoot at the police. Is it not when the person is alive that he is coming to give evidence? How will somebody who is violently attacking others be stopped; how are you going to stop him? Are you going to use your hands? You must repel him using a stronger force.”
AIG Mbu had led a detachment of policemen to Olorunsogo in Ogun State to provide security for the President at the commissioning event.
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