Rivers State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, was posted to the state at a time when the political turmoil between the immediate past Governor Nyesom Wike and his successor, Siminalayi Fubara, was at its peak. In this interview with ALBERT UBA, Disu says he applied native intelligence in dealing with the issue. He also speaks on other policing issues in the state.

You were posted to Rivers State at a time the state was boiling following the rift between former governor Nyesom Wike and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara. How were you able to deal with the situation to fit into their good books?

Sincerely, I need not fit in any of their good books. I applied native intelligence; yes native intelligence. And I reminded myself that I was posted here to do my job as a police officer and that’s to maintain law and order and protect life and property. That was my main focus.

But I made sure I did my job to the best of my knowledge, supervised my officers and men and refused to align with anybody. I reminded myself that those who had problems at the time were brothers; they are natives of the state and belong to the same group. So, it will be stupid of me to take sides because I know one day, the problem will be solved. So, where will I be by that time? I had to use native intelligence and it worked wonders.

Tell us the colour of crime in Rivers State?

Rivers State is a riverine state; it is very rich and its wealth has to do with the economy of the country. That being the case, and we know that there is oil and gas in the state a lot of crimes will come with it. There are cases of robbery, kidnapping for ransom and surprisingly, land grabbing. There are a lot of cases of land grabbing and I begin to wonder why. So, these are the crimes that are prevalent in the state.

What does it take to police Rivers State?

The issue is that I am happy and privileged to have worked here years back. Armed with that knowledge of the state, how to mingle with the people and the kind of crimes that are prevalent, you take up the crime data and create a crime map; know which community is prone to a particular crime. In Isiokpo, for instance, you know that this is the kind of crime that is prevalent there; in Chuba, you have this kind of crime. Most importantly, assemble your officers together and let them tell you how they have been handling such cases. Do not change your officers immediately; work with them because usually people would come to you to paint some officers bad; work with them to identify them yourself. See yourself as a football coach who knows his players, have people on the reserve bench, change them when necessary and see how your pattern of administration would go. So, that is what we are doing here and I think God is helping us.

What is the magic behind Gift Okpara aka 2Baba’s elimination?

You know that even before I came here as the Commissioner of Police, the news of the death of DPO Ahaoda Division, SP Bako Angbashim, was the talk of the country; how he was dismembered by the heartless gang of 2Baba. I never planned to come here but since the Almighty God said go there, it was the death of that DPO that was on my mind.

The very day I took over, I went to Ahoada to see the town, see the DPO, Area Commander and all the men who have been working tirelessly to ensure the safety of life and property there. I met them, told them that we will work together to ensure that the killers of Bako would be brought to justice, because at that time the morale of everybody was down. I assured them that the people who killed the DPO, who think they are above the law, must be brought to book because anybody who killed a police officer or security operatives has killed the people who put them together. That’s what we did and together the story today is that of success and commendation to the police and sister agencies.

How have you been able to strengthen your dragnet beyond the city centre towards the creeks?

Everybody knows that Rivers State is a state with its own peculiarities and the most important state in the comity of states. It has to do with the economy of the country; nothing must happen to Rivers State because it is very, very important in terms of the economy of the country.

Now, talking about the people, the creeks and waters, these are normal features associated with Rivers State. They use boats, canoes just as we use other kinds of vehicles on land. The issue is that where you cannot get through by using vehicles you use boats or canoes to reach there. So, it has not been too difficult navigating every nook and cranny of the state. There is no part of the state that you do not have police officers. In Bonny, for example, we have officers working there and the means of transportation to the place is by boat.

As Commander RRS in Lagos State, your style was policing with a human face; you told us then that you had every tool to work with. Are you replicating that as CP Rivers State?

Definitely, that’s the philosophy; that is the major reason the government set up the unit. The philosophy is that if you provide for the police and take care of the police, the police in turn will make good use of whatever you provide for them and by extension, be a people-friendly police; you will get a world-standard police and policing.

The RRS you are talking about was well-catered for. The officers and men get different kinds of allowances and the Unit gets all kinds of state-of-the-art equipment to work with. It was a marriage between equipment and the people; that is what RRS stands for.

Now coming to Rivers State, the terrain is quite different from Lagos. Providing such equipment that we had in Lagos as RRS Commander will go a long way to rewriting the policing model of the state; that is the philosophy I personally have for policing and the IGP has mentioned it again and again and I think that is the best way to go.

Policing the people, giving the type of police that’s people-friendly has to do with the theory of policing with consent; getting the people to cooperate with you, enlightening them and engaging them before you start enforcing the law. That way, the people will have a sense of belonging.

Take for example, somebody driving one way; you stop the driver, tell him that he is driving against traffic and that could cause death for those who might not be looking in that direction. Tell him the section of the law he has contravened and at the same time let him know that you are arresting him to be prosecuted. By the time you finish with all these, you would have succeeded in calming the person; he already knows that he has committed an offence and he probably will not drive against traffic the next time. This is policing with a human face; the people are very important in policing and we have started it in Rivers State. We are talking to the officers on this model. If you enter a town, the first set of officers you probably meet are those controlling traffic. So, we are talking to them, training them on public relations because the way they relate with you will give you the impression of the kind of Police Command and of course the CP are. We have also trained our officers on when to use and how to use firearms; we have also trained them on how to manage riot situations and other tactical training. Without training you cannot get it right.

How are you coping with the undue influence of some powerful traditional rulers on the police?

Don’t forget that I had worked in this town as AC years back. A lot of these traditional rulers are still there; I know the town so well. Most of the young men I knew then are now powerful stakeholders and traditional rulers. That makes it easy for me to go to them and share this philosophy of cooperation with the police and the need to control the youth. The youth are a wonderful set of human beings and to God be the glory; since I assumed office here, I have not had cases of the traditional rulers misusing the vigilante let alone the police. I have also not witnessed youth restiveness in the state. It has been a wonderful relationship between me, the traditional rulers, the community and the youth.

How were you able to manage the crisis in the House of Assembly?

The most important thing is to put at the back of your mind that you are a police officer; your responsibility is to protect life and property, prevent breakdown of law and order and protect the people and above all know that you are not a politician. That said, we are the closest to the politicians; we are also to execute court orders. So, with that in mind we were able to manage it even though it was not easy. There were decisions and counter decisions here and there and then we had court orders. You had to sit down and crack your head to know which decision to take. It was not easy really.

What has been your high point as CP?

Training and retraining of the officers and men of the Command, educating them on human face policing, the philosophy of the IGP, which is people-friendly and effective policing, creating rapport with the people, being courteous with the people, making friends with the people because without the people there is no police and that would most importantly bring down crime in the state. That is what we have been doing.

Any low points?

Yes, we have a low point. We had some of our men caught in the web of corruption, extortion of the youth and we arrested them and ensured that they were tried in accordance with the Police Act. It is sad to say that recently, one of the men found culpable has been dismissed and two others are on suspension; and there are one or two cases that have come up with these youths involving these sets of men, which we are looking into. It is a sad one for me that I had to be part of this saga where a police officer will be tried and dismissed. He was not only dismissed but paraded publicly before his dismissal. So, it is a low point for me. (The Guardian)

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