The Security Monitor led by Livingstone Wechie is a forum of Nigerians across board, who offer voluntary security intelligence, indicators, analysis, report, orientation, data collection and statistics as well as support security structures to ensure the attainment of order in society. It also helps with image development of security agencies and agents with a view to promoting a working relationship with citizens. The overall goal is to ensure a productive welfare and incentivised policing institution devoid of corruption but rich with genuine patriotic commitment.
The FCT Police Command is now blessed with a golden opportunity to make the city an envy to many as Africa’s capital of all capitals. This is because of the recent deployment of Tunji Disu as the Commissioner of Police (COMPOL) of the Federal Capital Territory FCT by the Inspector-General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun.
The warmth in this development is partly because of the unassailable feat of this cop while he served in same capacity in Rivers state Police Command wherefrom he was awarded by the Police highest command as the best Commissioner of Police in Nigeria.
Tunji Disu is a police officer that exemplifies what a professional police officer should embody. His advent in November 2023 as Rivers COMPOL, kick-started a journey of recovery for the state. Before this time, crime had become a major industry between powerful forces and kingpins both within the political circles and the other related circles.
Very importantly, the announcement of his posting came like a long awaited idea for Rivers State knowing his track-record while he served as RRS commander in Lagos and the Commander of the Intelligence Response Team IGP-IRT in Abuja.
Rivers State, known for its notorious political volatility and hostility, was also grappling with some daring security challenges that were brazingly undermining its economic and many other prospects. Whereas some COMPOLS had come and gone doing their respective bits, CP Disu came with a defined purpose and stayed true to it and achieved so much within a short time.
His antecedents raised the bar so high that those who will succeed him are left with the option of either taking it higher by taming the appetite for compromise and becoming innovatively productive or they end like a flash in the pan.
The deployment was confronted with a number of die-hard notorious criminals including those on the most wanted list, assassin cartels, rape gangs, one chance cartels, land grabbers, kidnapping, Murder, Armed robbery, Car snatchers, secret cult leaders etc.
It was within a short period of about five months that he bursted and brought to justice some notorious criminals that had become principalities and owners of crime empires in the state holding the state almost to ransom. Some of these criminals and Terrorists include 2Baba, John Togo, General Ugly, General Odiereke, Daddy Chukwu a.k.a OBONI, Occasion to mention but a few.
His stay for ten months indeed came with ten commandments against crime and criminality in the state. Crime Monitor observed that not only did he fight Crime with the support of his team, he enjoyed an unusual support from the Inspector-General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun who gave him all the needed logistics to achieve this much.
This was obviously so as evidenced in the strange results he achieved. Iche Adele, a Rivers stakeholder and a near victim cum eyewitness said this about the CP “A super cop who has proved his mettle even before being assigned as the Rivers State Police Commissioner, CP Tunji Disu seems to have perfected his artistry in policing in Rivers State as he shone as a star that he is in bursting several criminal gangs and activities in the state”.
I, for one, wouldn’t be alive to express this appreciation but for the timely intervention of this great man called Tunji Disu. He tackled headlong, the disturbing notorious tag of Rivers State as insecured following the rampant cases of killings, arson, kidnapping, rape, etc. CP Disu came and there was instant relief. He sure has the magic wand to turn things around, and kudos to him. Thank you sir, for saving my life and God bless you and your family”.
One vital role he played was to boost Police Community Relations and the encouragement of Community Policing through local Vigilantees. CP Disu also went on to encourage alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
A case in hand was the face-off between Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd NAOC now OandO Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd with its host Community Mgbuosimini Community in Rumueme kingdom. The Community had embarked on a peaceful protest against the Oil giant for years of neglect.
The CP as a Community man intervened and invited both the Community and the Company management to a settlement meeting on June 12, 2024 after a three days blockade to appeal for an amicable resolution of the dispute. The Mgbuosimini Community yielded to the appeal of the CP and without any condition they lifted the blockade, though the company is still disrespecting that patriotic intervention by not keeping to its commitment from our findings.
The commercial nature and intense economic demography of Rivers State makes it a state of high interest and activity. Moreover, the overcharged political climate in the state makes it very hard for any Police Czar to succeed without soiling the finger of the institution.
The magic wand of this CP Tunji Disu in managing the volatile and hard-headed political contradictions and complications of a state like Rivers could not have been without the religious applications of circumspect professionalism. It is an aspect of policing that the Nigerian Police as an institution should study under Tunji Disu. He worked on eggshells and tightrope yet succeeded.
This is to say that he must have isolated himself from so much. He must have bridled his tongue so as not to be in the media for the wrong reasons. He must have managed so many conflicting interests with unassuming wisdom that only God gives to those who genuinely seek it.
As a matter of fact, it is doubtful if Tunji Disu had a social life while he served in Rivers state. He literally was never seen on any private visit to his friends in the political elites in the state. This is not because it was wrong to do so, but he chose the narrow path to save his head and name from the vicious political climate and media backlash.
This is something to study closely by the Police system because indeed it was a narrow path particularly in a state where the money in Rivers politics can bathe and procure anything that money can buy in this world.
This is not to paint him as a Saint or with a toga of perfection as one who had no need for money but to say he dispensed himself and the Command as one with a difference in his time. If you want to describe him properly, he can be christened a “Soundproof Security Chief” who makes noiseless unusual success.
With authority reference to the plethora of Press Releases, reportage and media briefings by the Rivers State Police Command during the period all of which are in the public domain, a little highlight is made of some of his success stories. First, is a little story around the notorious Daddy Chukwu killer group.
They were declared Wanted by the Nigerian Police Force Rivers State Command under the then Commissioner of Police Ahmed Zaki as he then was in 2017 after gruesomely killing not less than twenty innocent persons in one night in Mgbuosimini Community in the heart of Port Harcourt.
This is a locus just behind the OandO Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd for Nigeria Agip Oil Company Ltd Operational Headquarters base. The interesting part here is that since 2017 till date, the publication declaring Daddy Chukwu and seven others wanted remained like a decoration on the notice board of the Rivers State Police Command Headquarters until Tunji Disu came on board.
The question now is “what changed and what did he do differently?”. It follows that several Commissioners of Police had come and gone and either refused, failed or neglected to do the needful while Daddy Chukwu a.k.a OBONI operated unfettered and brazingly moving with all manner of Arms with his Camp in the city centre perpetuating heinous atrocities and killing people without any challenge.
No doubt, by meeting his Waterloo, many big names were hurt in Rivers state. His long survival may as well be an issue of compromise or incapacity or lack of will by some defunct Security Personnel who maybe have their best yet unjustified reasons for keeping him to hunt his victims.
A close effort to bring Daddy Chukwu and his group to justice was CP Effiong Okon now AIG SPU who in April of 2023 led an operation and raided the camp of Daddy Chukwu with the support of the Community Vigilante OSPAC, arresting some of his gang members with several ammunition and military uniforms. Some members of the Community alleged that they were victimised for making efforts to ensure that this killer group was brought to justice.
On 13th January 2024, a major tragedy struck again that made national headlines. Chief Ndidi Livingstone, the Community Development Committee CDC Chairman of Mgbuosimini Community was gruesomely murdered by the Daddy Chukwu and his group while the deceased was leaving church service within the Community.
CP Tunji Disu immediately swung into action and vowed to bring this monster to justice. This blood trader had been on the Police wanted list since 2017 for multiple murder, kidnapping etc. CP Disu with three months brought down Daddy Chukwu after tracing him to a native doctor’s shrine in Asaba Delta state in an operation which according to him during his briefing was made successful with the support of the Delta State Police Command.
The CP sometime around September 12, 2024 in another briefing announced that all those remaining killers who were involved in the murder of late Chief Ndidi Livingstone had either been killed during an operation in a gun battle or arrested and they all worked with Daddy Chukwu.
No wonder the Mgbuosimini Community recognised Tunji Disu as the “Odum” Oha 1 of Mgbuosimini Land. It means the Tiger of Mgbuosimini. The Rumueme Council of Chiefs, Elders and Owhor Holders also gave Tunji Disu an award of excellence, and officially proclaimed him as an indigene and illustrious son of the kingdom after he was dressed in their traditional attire during a special visit in September of 2024.
A striking virtue of Tunji Disu was his humane, kind and patient disposition. He never prided himself as a Mr. know-it-all or a too big Police boss. It was testified of some private citizens including journalists who said CP Tunji Disu called them on phone or met with them one on one to seek their opinion or advice on certain issues to guide his actions. He had a very memorable relationship with the media.
He is said to be the first CP to visit the Press Centre in Port Harcourt. You could hardly find him in the negative parts of media reportage. Each time Disu spoke, you looked forward to the substance. Meanwhile this is Rivers State that we are talking about. One would wonder how he managed his public profile as per what information was churned out to the media and management thereof.
He always gave an institutional response to issues of public concern. There was always a swift response to any issue that came his way which had security implications and he always sought to see for himself and interact with victims. His handling of the End Hunger Protest without molesting protesters was a testament of his professionalism.
During one of those days of protests in Port Harcourt, he visited one of the protest venues to see things for himself. While he was addressing the protesters, someone from the crowd splashed him with a sachet of water and he cautioned himself to maintain his calm and never gave any adversarial order.
With reference to Police reports in the public domain, the issue of the notorious Gift Okpara alias 2Baba the cop killer and how CP Disu clamped down on him and his gang is an amazing one. 2Baba as he was nicknamed had gruesomely killed and dismembered SP Bako Angbashim in September of 2023.
CP Tunji Disu became his nightmare as he quickly swung into action, arresting any possible link with 2Baba until he was neutralised in a manner that seemed impossible. Another was John Togo who was an infamous sea pirate notorious for terrorising coastal communities where he owned illegal Bunkering camps, involved in Arms trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, Murder etc. It was under Tunji Disu that this enemy of peace was brought down. Then it got to Sunday Silas alias “General Ugly” who ran a violent criminal cartel around the Ahoada axis of the state.
He was, according to the Police, notorious for armed robbery, cultism, he was said to be the Head of a secret cult called “Greenlanders”. He literally submerged the Ahoada axis and caged them with terror and horror. He was brought down during an exchange of gunfire with the police on January 11, 2024 evoking relief evoking relief to the people.
A notorious killer and cult leader, David Izuma Moses alias “General Odiereke” was a major case because he had been on the police wanted list since 2016. As a self-styled General, this individual unleashed mayhem on the people of Ahoada West local government Area of the state. He was notorious for killings, arson, Murder, kidnapping and extortion. He was, according to the police, responsible for the killing of many innocent people in his area of operation.
Other criminals and kingpins in the killing and kidnapping business that met their end under CP Tunji Disu were the very notorious Sunday Amadi, a.k.a Occasion who terrorised the Emohua axis of the state. Others are men of the notorious General 2Man still at large such as ThankGod Uchechi alias “Pastor SP” and third in Command Okpo Emenike alias “Western King” from whom according to the Police, two fully loaded AK-47 rifles and eight magazines were recovered.
Disu as CP Rivers also curbed the menace of Baby factory as well as the one-chance monster. There are countless incidents and success records of crime bursting under his watch. It is almost undisputed in the opinion of Crime Monitor that Rivers State had never seen policing that professional in a long time.
Disu had a way of insulating himself from the razzmatazz of the highly advertised Rivers Politics. It should be noted that he was one of the longest serving Commissioners of Police in Rivers state in recent history. This is a state notorious for police short service by Commissioners of Police. Once you are deployed and you are compromised or you are fingered in the politics of the state, one alarm will take you out. Some left in shame while others left by necessity.
Could it be said that one of the key strategies of Disu was the acknowledgement of the capacity of his other juniors and ranking colleagues. He reposed so much confidence in them so much that delegating duties to them was the order and he always gave them the credit with pride. Tunji Disu will always say “I did not achieve this alone. My team worked with me. My DC Administration, my DC Operations, PPRO Grace Koko among others”. His humane and fatherly interaction and relational disposition to the most junior officers was a gift and virtue so inviolable with his open door policy.
There are some key intelligence officers whom he held closely and were clothed with the duty to deliver on some of his most critical high profile crime fighting tasks particularly the criminal kingpins. They include Edwin and Amadi of the Intelligence Response Team IGP-IRT. They held the ace with him along with others who may not be mentioned here for obvious reasons bothering on the classification of their jobs.
The point is that Tunji Disu should be studied closely by the Nigerian Police Force. His ethics, demeanour, character disposition, public service conduct, his straight-to-the-point approach among others is something worthy of emulation. This is particularly in a society where people have given up on the Nigerian Police as an institution with the level of compromise and corruption by a number of its men.
In a season where some characters have made crime fighting a cash and carry and transactional industry, Disu has re-storied the narrative from his end. Disu will say “We have a date with that criminal and we will get him”. This milestone contributed to his award by the Inspector-General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun as the best Commissioner of Police in Nigeria. He is arguably the first to ever receive such an award in the history of the Force.
The core here is that Tunji Disu is duty-bound to replicate the same result and even more in the FCT. This is particularly at a time when the city is fast losing its status as an economic, social and political centre of unity due to the influx of all manner of criminals and dissidents.
He must rid the FCT of the new types of criminal gangs that want to own the city by attacking and maiming its residents including killing the nightlife trait of Abuja. Security Monitor welcomes COMPOL Tunji Disu to Abuja, the seat of power and holds him responsible and accountable for the expected success to be recorded again.
- Wechie is Team Lead of Security Monitor, Abuja, FCT Nigeria
