Stop Mbunity

And I am talking of men like The Big Show built like a tower or Mark Henry built like a colossus. But in Nigeria a man fed, clothed and housed from the public purse goes around in uniform harassing helpless, hapless and vulnerable citizens. His name is MJ Mbu and he is an assistant inspector […]

And I am talking of men like The Big Show built like a tower or Mark Henry built like a colossus. But in Nigeria a man fed, clothed and housed from the public purse goes around in uniform harassing helpless, hapless and vulnerable citizens. His name is MJ Mbu and he is an assistant inspector general of police. Some say he’s only the IG in waiting.
Most bullies are not built like the toys of the torero; they are crash opportunists who fill the hollowness in their life by intimidating others. Usually soft brained and lacking in bravado, they handpicked victims and strike when least expected. But like torero bulls, there comes a final victim before they are sent to the abattoir where they become meat and their hides are tanned as leather. MJ Mbu is literally heading towards that ignominious end.
Run through his pre-Port Harcourt resume and what you see is a man short of the courage of Kayode Uanreroro who in December 1986 tamed the notorious Lawrence Anini. He would have been celebrated if he had the intellectual chivalry of Alozie Ogugbuaja who stared military despots down and barefacedly called them pepper soup lickers, beer guzzlers and coup makers. Mbu is not the most decorated academic in the police force; he does not rub shoulders with Ogbonna Onovo. He does not stand with Nuhu Ribadu who steered the EFCC against the behemoths of corruption.
MJ Mbu was just another ‘yes-man’ in the ranks of the police until he saw in Rotimi Amaechi a political vulnerability, then he shot into our national consciousness with indignity. After all, the duty of a uniformed federal officer is not blind pandering to the system in power but to the greater ideals of a nation. The moment Amaechi fell out of favour with the establishment, Mbu attempted to turn him into a doormat of a police commissioner. Egged on by the choristers of impunity, he continued to dance a macabre notice-me dance until he was moved to the federal capital. That a man with such hollow track record is promoted an AIG is evidence that our country has sunk to its lowest level even in a uniformed force.
That must have informed his infamous order to clear protesters scratching on the conscience of the nation by asking for the release of over 200 Chibok girls. Before his 24-hour ultimatum could be challenged in court, he chickened out. It is turning out to be the first in a series of time-wasting cases he is now famed to congest our courts of law. Mbu is not done with controversy. At a recent press conference, he described himself as a lion that tamed the tiger in Port Harcourt. He must have felt that the ludicrous analogy washes with his masters because he is now taking on the media.
Last week, Mbu invited a radio/television presenter, Amaechi Anakwe who described him diplomatically as ‘controversial’ rather than call him the uniformed thug that he is. Rather than go to court for a legal interpretation of fair comment, he sullied his uniform and rank of AIG. When Amaechi showed up as a gentleman, he was dumped into a police cell and promptly later arraigned in court. Mbu knew he could not win a judgment against fair comment in a law court and cowardly ordered his release.
Apparently, Mbu is not a student of history and probably does not have the capacity to comprehend it. Like a rabid dog writ large, this uniformed thug needs someone to put a collar on his scrawny neck and reign in his filthy mouth. The press may not have the power of the gun, but it fought for independence against colonialists and took on the army to restore democracy. The press is the conscience of society that takes on anyone from presidents to plebeians, monarchs or despots. It is its constitutional right to do so and that right is globally guaranteed.
Fair comment is an inalienable aspect of that right. It is a check and a balance. It the harness in the mouth of despots, the beacon in the ocean pointing right from wrong, the press has the endorsement of history, the support of logic and the affirmation of the destiny.
Mbu’s only road to heroism is to apologise to those he has bullied and learn to treat people with respect. The uniform is no longer a cloak of impunity. If Mbu craves headlines, he should lobby for transfer to Gwoza and rescue the mobile police training school from Boko Haram. That is a lofty battle befitting an officer and a gentleman. The media remains an unrepentant opponent of Mbunity.