I’m Eminently Qualified To Lead Ohanaeze Ndigbo –Okiro

As the apex Igbo body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo elects next President-General today, a former Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, speaks with BIYI ADEGOROYE on why he is qualified to lead the group

One of the first issues you are contending with is that of your nativity. The belief is that you are from Imo State. What is the true picture?

I can tell you without mincing words that I am from Rivers State. People should differentiate between Ohaji-Egbema in Imo State and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni in Rivers State. I want to say clearly that I am from Rivers State.

You can check my records. Even while I was in school up to university level, the records are there. Some of my schoolmates can attest to this.

At the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, one of my mates is Andrew Uchendu, who later became a senator of the federal Republic. We met at the University of Ibadan in 1974, where we both served as executive members of the National Union of Rivers’ State Students. I was the Treasurer, while Andrew was the General Secretary. Late F.J Kuruye was the Chairman.

Already, the office has been zoned to Rivers State and I have the endorsement of the Rivers Chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Rivers State, Chief Lucky Ekeji and the Women leader Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mrs Love Chimezie Meregini, have spoken generously about my eligibility, as a true son of Rivers State and a proud indigene of the Egbema community.

Given the complexity of the SouthEast and South-South and the agitations of Ndigbo worldwide, what are you bringing to the fore as if elected as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo?

I will bring leadership, inclusion and robust plan to address the peculiar needs of Ndigbo. They range from promoting the culture, economy and security in the region. Our people have gone through a lot as regards insecurity.

As a retired Inspector General of Police and former Chairman of Police Service Commission, I will harness contacts, collaborate with people and government throughout Nigeria to give quality leadership to Ohanaeze. I will utilize the same to address the security and socio-cultural needs of Ndigbo around the world.

You will recall that as Inspector General of Police, I played a major role in the establishment of the Amnesty programme that restored peace in the Niger Delta during the tenure of President Umaru Yar’Adua. That enabled companies to go about their businesses and propelled a major leap in oil production and the resources available to state and federal governments.

I will collaborate with all stakeholders to bring stability to the South-East. I have the necessary education, skill, strategies and experience to mitigate the security challenges we are having in the South-East today. Go back to my history and antecedents; I have done very well in this regard.

During your career in the Nigeria Police, you made some remarkable achievements. What would you identify as the highlights?

I had a lot of them. I wouldn’t really want to highlight any of them because Nigerians and observers can point out certain things that could be called my landmark achievements.

For me, I recognize all of them as jobs I did for my country and the Nigeria Police Force, and most importantly as a call to duty.

If I were to reminisce on them, I will single out some that were celebrated by the people. One of them was the unravelling of the killers of the Tor Tiv, HRM (Dr.) Atawe Torkula’s second wife, Veronica Avenda, in 1999.

I will harness contacts, collaborate with people and government to give quality leadership to Ohanaeze. I will utilise the same to address the security and socio-cultural needs of Ndigbo across the world

I was posted to Benue State as Commissioner of Police on June 7, 1999, and by July, I was able to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing; arrested the killers and when I told IG Musiliu Smith, he advised me to address the press about it, and when I did the news spread like wildfire. And people could not hide their excitement.

They were saying, ‘CP you are doing very well.’ I do remember also, when Lagos was in confusion, witnessing series of killings, bank robberies, car snatching. The remarkable one was that a white man was killed on Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere. We unravelled that too and arrested the killers.

Another was the murder of former Minister of Sports, Air Vice Marshal Tony Ikhazobor, on July 30, 1999 in Lagos. He had earlier served as Minister of Aviation. He was nuked by some criminals, including a son of a serving Assistant Inspector General of Police.

They were all arrested under my leadership. You will also remember Chief Chris Ogunbanjo, a corporate lawyer of Ogun State descent, born on December 14, 1923. But on Friday, August 2, 1999, he was shot in Lagos. To gain entrance into his apartment, they scaled through the fence, entered into his bedroom and shot him.

The attackers severely brutalized his family members in their storey-building before disappearing into thin air. We got them. Senator Olayiwola Balogun, an architect and politician was another prominent Nigerians felled by hired killers. The revered builder and brain behind scores of high-rise buildings dotting the Lagos landscape and a presidential as pirant was killed in in December 2000.

Getting involved in cases; you know I was not a sedentary officer. I was moving about. The Inspector General of Police came to Lagos, I was with him till 11.pm, and as I was going home, the DPO Sabo called me, that Lai Balogun had been shot and killed. I went home, but could not sleep. IGP Smith had to catch his 6.am Bellview Flight.

I went to him in the morning. I knew that Lai Balogun and IGP were very good friends, and IGP had an important meeting in Abuja the following day, so I didn’t tell him in order not to disorganize him. I saw him at the airport and immediately the plane was taking off, I called the DPO Sabo, called OC, Anti-Robbery, SCID, Panti, Yaba, to join me at Lai Balogun’s house. It was there they told us how the incident happened. As Lai Balogun’s driver drove in, a vehicle followed them, and robbed and killed him.

Sometimes, people can try to undo you but it would turn out to your benefit. People can tell lies but the lies can be beneficial to you, the way God wants it. People’s lies can even make you succeed. So, as I was about to leave, Lai Balogun’s brother called and said his brother was killed by hired killers.

That immediately he was shot, one of the killers made a call, saying ‘we have killed him. Can we come for our money now?’ That was the lead. Then GSM had not been introduced. We had Multilinks. It cost about N150,000 then.

In my deep recess, I said armed robbers could not afford such a phone at that particular time. That meant that one of the robbers was in possession of a phone, so we moved back to the house immediately. We searched for the phone, with the theory that the robbers must have called their sponsor on Lai Balogun’s phone.

I was given Lai Balogun’s phone contact and with the assistance of Multilinks, during our investigation, we traced all the calls into and outside the phone during the period. We were able to trace the people they made the call to, recovered the phone, recovered his expensive wristwatch and some money and arrested all the suspects. Before then, they were calling for the head of Okiro.

The IGP informed me that the President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to see us the following morning, at 11.am. The agenda was to increase the crime rate in Lagos.

I called Emmanuel Akpoyinbo, who was then the OC, GID, to provide me details of all the case he was handling. All the DPOs and even SCID, Panti did the same thing. I did not sleep all night. I wrote a report, and when I finished around 6.am, I had my bath, breakfast and headed to the Murtala Mohammed Airport.

There, I addressed a press conference, gave the list of all robbery cases we handled and charged to court, and boarded the aircraft. I stated all the robbery cases we charged to court and the courts released them on bail. There were many others, including the handling of the Ikeja Cantonment ordinance explosion on January 27, 2002, that was another watershed in the history of Nigeria.

How were you able to handle the police strike in Lagos at the time you were the commissioner of Police in the state?

I got an intelligence that police officers wanted to go on strike because of nonpayment of rain supplements. I called the IGP, who was performing the Hajj and gave him the information and he said he has already written to the government about payment of the rain supplement but the government was yet to pay. I did my homework. I read English Literature at the University of Ibadan.

I remember Williams Shakespeare’s Henry V. When Henry went to attack France, he found out that the strength of the French Army was far more than that of the British Army, the British soldiers were demoralized.

So, Henry disguised and was going to the troops from one camp to another, boosting their morale to honour England and that if any of them died in the defence of England, it was glory and honour for them.

That even on their grave, the inscription would be ‘this man… died in defence of England.’ Even if they sustain injury in the process, they can boast that ‘I got this wound in defence of England’. Look and behold, in the battle, England defeated France.

So, with that at the back of my mind, I went from police station to police station, barracks to barracks, room to room. I told them ‘The IGP has written to the government about the rain supplement, so be patient, the government will pay you.

There is a process in disbursement of government money, it follows procedures. It does not come overnight.’ So, Lagos was one of the few states that the police did not go on strike. That was what caused the removal of Musiliu Smith as IGP.

After that, a new IGP, Tafa Balogun, was appointed. I was promoted from Commissioner of Police Deputy Inspector General of Police, a very rare promotion. In no time, it was on 4.00pm news. I tried to calm down. People were rushing to my office and at one point I became uncomfortable.

I then moved to my house and waited for the 9.pm news and it was there – Okiro was promoted to DIG. The next morning, I dressed and went to see the then Governor Bola Tinub and informed him that I have been promoted to a DIG, he said ‘Yes, I am aware.

The Council of State met when Smith was removed and another IGP was appointed.’ No, he said Governor Bukola Saraki at the meeting raised his hand and said ‘Okiro has done very well and should be made IGP.’ The Governor of Benue, Mr. George Akume, stood up and supported Saraki, stating that Okiro performed very well as CP Benue, hence his transfer to Lagos.’ So, I have come a long way and will utilize this for my people.

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