MBU AND A SEEMING OBSESSION WITH AMAECHIS -Written by Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja IT was the erudite Justice Chukwudifu Oputa who admonished, in one of many locus classicus, thus: “It is good for a man to have the strength of an elephant. But it is better and wiser to use that strength as gently as the dove”. If the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Mr. Joseph Mbu had heed Oputa’s advice, he would never have courted another controversy as he did when he arrested a correspondent of the African Independent Television (AIT), Amaechi Anakwe for daring to describe him as “the controversial Joesph Mbu” while conducting an interview with the new Commissioner of Police for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Upon Mbu’s instructions, a policeman went on to “invite” Amaechi to the police station for discussions as soon as the programme was over. Not suspecting that trouble was in the offing, he immediately honoured the invitation only to be arrested and detained consequently for describing an AIG especially one who seem to have a love hate relationship with the name Amaechi. (Mbu’s “bitter romance” with Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi easily comes to mind). One cannot but wonder however, why a man who is averse to being described as “controversial” would so easily hug the headlines in the social media, print and electronics by arresting a correspondent for calling him controversial. Discretion is said to be the better part of valour. Surely, this award -winning officer must know this. So why did he act to the contrary? Was it a matter of an obsession to all Amaechis as a result of the bitter romance with Amaechi, the governor? One is tempted to think so. Otherwise, what would make such a highly decorated officer lose his cool to the extent of arresting and trumping up a charge of defamation of character? Anyway, Amaechi, the correspondent of AIT was charged to a Magistrate court the next day after being detained overnight. However, in what may suggest that Mbu’s momentary mindlessness was borne out of an inexplicable obsession for Amaechis (no thanks to the governor), he filed a motion to withdraw the charge on the same day Amaechi was brought to court. When the charge was called, Prosecution counsel, Chijoke Okezie told the court that the complainant had instructed him not to proceed to trial and accordingly applied to withdraw the said charge. In a terse ruling, and since there was no objection to it, Magistrate Anthony Ogboi struck out the charge against Amaechi and discharged him. Why did Mbu go the length of arresting and charging Amaechi, the correspondent, when he was not prepared to pursue the case to finality? Did he withdraw the charge owing to pressure from human rights groups, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, etc? Only Mbu can answer that question as it is a big doubt to say it was pressure that caused him to withdraw the charge knowing how well he seems to thrive under pressure. As Commissioner of Police, Oyo State, Mbu restored the full compliment of the Kingdom to the Alaafin of Oyo when he went on to unseat the Ashipa in enforcement of a court order which Commissioners of Police in the state before him had lacked the guts to enforce. Mbu also took on Amaechi, the Governor in a fierce battle. He even barred the governor on an occasion from entering the Government House with his visitors. The governor and his guests had to get in through a back gate. Mbu even withdrew the governor’s police Orderly, causing Amaechi to raise alarm that there was an imminent threat to his life. For all the drama the nation was treated to with many people calling for his sack, Mbu was later recalled to the Force Headquarters and in turn appointed Commissioner of Police, FCT. An appointment many felt was compensation for his loyalty to Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan who had been at daggers drawn with Governor Amaechi. If one thought that redeployment and posting as the FCT Commissioner of Police would put out the fire of controversy between the governor and the Police chief, that thought was quickly jettisoned by Mbu as he was surely and sorely not in a hurry to confine their bitter romance to the dustbin of history. Several months after he had left Rivers State and while handing over to his successor Commissioner of Police, FCT, Wilson Inalegwu on September 15, 2014, Mbu said “It is only a lion that can take a leopard. I tamed the leopard in Port Harcourt; each time he remembers my face, he would remember how I tamed him.” But for obsession, why would a Police chief rather than focus on drawing the attention of his successor to areas he needs to focus on, still went on dwelling in self praise over his bust up with Amaechi, the governor? That the governor returned the salvo generously by calling Mbu, a “woman’s puppet.” While one may not play Sigmund Freud by claiming to know the workings of Mbu’s inner mind, the ease at which the highly decorated officer swings into actions and comments regarding Amaechi, the Governor and the recent arrest and charge of Amaechi, the correspondent on the mere allusion to him as “controversial” suggests that it may be a case of obsession with the Amaechis on his part, which may have amounted to abuse of power entrusted to him by tax- paying Nigerians citizenry as an Assistant Inspector General of Police. He will do his personality and office a world of good by having a shrink walk him through a seeming post- Amaechi syndrome. As for Amaechi, the correspondent and other journalists, it is instructive to be guided in the use of adjectives and modifiers because an improper or inappropriate use could cause avoidable trouble. It is the position of the Supreme Court that a single conviction of a journalist for libel does not qualify anyone to call that person a libellous journalist. According to the apex court, such a journalist may safely be referred to as a journalist who libelled and not a libellous journalist. It therefore goes without saying that rather than describe the Police chief as the controversial Mbu, one will be towing a safer path by referring to him as a police officer who courts or seems to court controversy. No writer or broadcaster is permitted to be lazy with language.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:31:50 +0000
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