The former IGP who turned 77 on July 24, 2026 was also Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) between May 2013 and April 12, 2018.

In this interview with Sunday Sun, the former IGP, a lawyer, said the anti-terrorism squad he put in place while serving as IGP was disbanded as soon as he retired in 2009. He singled out that “error” as contributing to the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency, a group that has spread terrorism since 2009.

He also spoke on other issues including the raging insecurity in the country, the 2027 election, the police among others.

He narrated how he joined the police and how he prevented an attack on the son of the late maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha, by an angry mob led by the Oodua People’s Congress while he served as Commissioner of Police in Lagos.

How does it feel to be 77?

Well, I have clocked 77 for the first time. It is the greatest age. The Bible gives three scores and 10, that is, 70. I thank God for giving me the grace and strength to go beyond 70 and go to 77. By the grace of God I will add many more years. I thank God for that.

At 77, former IGP, former Chairman, Police Service Commission, what would you describe as your most defining achievements?

As a police officer, I handled a lot of assignments; from ASP till I became IG, I can say that everything I did in the police was remarkable. But looking back, there are most striking ones. I was posted to Benue State as Commissioner of Police from June 7 to August 2 1999 and was transferred to Lagos. I arrived Lagos August 2nd and I tried to study the state, because by the time I arrived Lagos, crime was at its peak in the state. That was why the IG at that time sent me there.

He singled you out?

Yes. I remember he called me one night. I was just a month and half as Commissioner of Police in Benue. He called and told me told me he was sending me to Lagos. I said yes sir. But on a second thought I asked him what for, because I thought it was for a special duty or something. But he said Commissioner of Police Lagos. As Commissioner of Police Lagos? He said yes. I asked again, as Commissioner of Police Lagos? I asked the third time and he shouted at me, what’s wrong with you, Okiro! I said I was told special people are sent to Lagos, I don’t know what is taking me to Lagos. And secondly, in Benue, I had not secured my quarters yet but I had been able to secure school admission for my children in Markudi. I was only waiting to secure residentialquarters so that I could bring them along. To move to Lagos now, I have no residence in Lagos, so where would I stay in Lagos with my family? Also, to get schools in Lagos was difficult. How do I get schools for my children in Lagos? The IG said, Okiro, you have to go.I said, yes sir and left for Lagos. In Lagos, there was real confusion because crime was at its peak in the state at that time -car snatching, robbery, people were being killed every day in Lagos. I took that as a challenge. One day, in the evening, I saw on television, I think early September, I saw people at Igbosere, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) people with cutlasses, sticks, broken bottles, sticks and Jerry cans of petrol. They said Abacha’s son was being brought to Lagos and that they wanted to kill him. I laughed and said, look at these people. Who told you Abacha’s son is coming to Lagos. I’m the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, if such a thing is going to happen, I should know. I told someone who called me that what I saw on the television was not correct, I didn’t know where they got the information from. So, I dismissed it.

But about 8pm, the IG called me from Abuja and said Okiro, they are bringing Abacha’s son with an Air Force plane to Lagos for trial tomorrow, provide security. And I said yes sir. As I dropped the phone, my head went haywire. At 9pm? I didn’t have enough men in Lagos, not enough vehicles, arms were not enough, I don’t have tear gas. What I saw at Igbosere was correct. The nearest place I could have got support or backup was Abeokuta, Ogun State or Ibadan, Oyo State but in the circumstances I found myself that night, the two locations were very far. At 9pm!

And the trial was the next day?

Yes, the next day. I didn’t know what to do. I knelt down and prayed to God. I talked to God as if I was talking to my biological father physically, I said, God, I didn’t want to join the police – I will talk about that one later on because I hated the police – but God, you guided me to join the police. Is this how I will end up? Is this how my career will end? How many people do I kill? How many people do I shoot with the crowd at Igbosere? If I dare shoot one person, the whole Lagos will go up in flames. The whole police stations in Lagos will be attacked and I had nothing to protect police stations.

Are you saying that at that time, the Lagos State Police Command lacked arms and men?

Yes. We didn’t have men. We didn’t have vehicles. Nothing! How do I confront or control that crowd at Igbosere? After saying amen to my prayer, I got solution immediately. From nowhere, solution came. The first thing that came to my mind was to change the venue of the trial, from the court at the Igbosere to another court in Lagos because it is the same Lagos Judicial District. Badagry is in Lagos, Epe is in Lagos, Ikeja is in Lagos, Igbosere is in Lagos. So, I called the IG and I told him I wanted to change the venue of the trial. He said I should contact the Chief Judge of Lagos. I sent the DPO of Ikoyi, Garba who is now retired. He retired as DIG – that time there was no mobile phone, it was landline and walkie-talkie that we were using. So I sent him to the house of the Chief Judge and he called me back to report that the Chief Judge was on leave. I called back the IG to feed him back and he instructed I should see the Registrar. I sent the DPO to the Registrar. I got the Registrar and I told him my intention to change the trial venue from Igbosere to Ikeja. He said Ok, I should see the Chief Registrar of Ikeja. And the Chief Registrar of Ikeja was living at Badagry. So, I called the DPO of Badagry.

That same night?

That same night! So I called the DPO Badagry. I had a walkie-talkie and patrol vehicle, Badagry was far so I had to use the walkie-talkie as communication and patrol vehicle to Badagry. I got the man at 2.30am and told him I wanted the case to be tried at 6.30am but he objected on the ground that court starts by 9 am and anything outside 9am is creating room for an appeal. The plane carrying Abacha’s son and the other suspects arrived at about 5.30am. I got a Black Maria and transferred him there and instructed the driver to drive to Airport Police Station and remain there. I told the driver that anytime I called him, he should proceed to Ikeja Magistrate Court. I deployed men to the court to provide security. I got somebody in the court with walkie-talkie and instructed him to call me once the court opened by 9 o’clock to tell me that the stage was set. I then deployed some men to Igbosere with an order that anyone entering Igbosere must be thoroughly searched. I also put policemen on the Third Mainland Bridge and Eko Bridge with an order that anyone approaching must be thoroughly searched. This was to give the impression that something was happening at Igbosere while the trial was actually taking place at Ikeja.

It was a decoy. So everybody was happy, they were rushing to Igbosere. When it was 9 o’clock, the man I put at the Magistrate Court, Ikeja, communicated to me through walkie-talkie and reported that the stage was set. I now called the Black Maria and ordered him to proceed to the court. It was a murder trial. Guilty or not guilty and they pleaded not guilty and were remanded at Ikoyi prison. With the walkie-talkie, the Black Maria was calling me. When they got to Ikoyi, he called me that they had arrived. I was so happy. I now called the policemen at Igbosere and other places and instructed them to stand down, the trial was over. Ahhh! Lagos was in confusion. Before I forget, the IG called me also…

Who was the IGP at that time?

Musiliu Smith. The IG called me and instructed that I should make sure that the press covered the trial. When the trial was about to commence, I called top editors to proceed to my office for some breaking news and they all rushed to my office. I offered them breakfast but they were insistent on the breaking news. I assured them that the news would soon come. When it was 9 o’clock and I was informed by my men at the court that the trial was about to start, I now broke the news to the pressmen: Go to Ikeja and cover the trial of Abacha’s son and others! At that moment, they all rushed out, in fact, one of them, a lady, left behind her handbag.

That was how the trial went peacefully. There was no loss of life, nothing and I thank God for that. During the subsequent trials, tension had gone down. I consider the episode my greatest achievement because if it was not well handled that day, if not for the wisdom God gave me that day, many people would have died because OPC was ready. They were vowing they were going to kill him. They were dancing at Igbosere, waiting for him to come.

In reality, if Abacha’s son had been brought to Igbosere, I mean, would OPC have harmed him?

Definitely! There are many other significant achievements I recorded during my career but the Abacha son’s episode was very, very unique.

Having served at the highest level of policing, how would you assess Nigeria’s current security situation? Are we making progress, or are the threats becoming more complex?

Well, we are not making progress. The situation had been bad right from time. We are all Nigerians, let us face facts. The situation has been like this, likewise the economic situation. I give you an example. I came to Lagos; I was basically drafted to Lagos as Commissioner of Police. Before I came to Lagos, Group Captain Tony Ikhazabor, a brilliant Air Force officer was killed. That same month, a white man was killed at Adeniran Ogunsanya; he was shot in a restaurant. Ogunbanjo, one popular lawyer, was shot too. Seriki was killed, Eze Ndigbo in Badiya was shot. The Limousine of Ooni of Ife was snatched. In fact, people were running away from Lagos. OPC took over because the police had failed. OPC took over.

So, the OPC was in charge by the time you arrived Lagos to assume duty?

OPC was in charge! So that was how I was drafted to Lagos because the IG told me, Okiro, I have problem in Lagos. I’m told you are the only one who can handle it for me. I was saying in mind, what problem does the IG have that me, small me will handle for him? It was when he said within my one and half month in Benue I had a wonderful record; it was when he said if you know those officers who are making you shine, who were making you succeed in Benue, give me their names, that I now said oh! My record in Benue was the reason he drafted me to Lagos. So, you can see that this issue of insecurity didn’t start today. It has been with us all along. If you listen to Fela, the music he played in the 70s and 80s, he talked about security and the economic situation in Nigeria. Eedris Abdulkareem, who was singing Nigeria jagajaga, Nigeria suffer-suffer, was also alluding to the same problem. But the issue is that we should try, let it be a challenge to every one of us to see what we can do to make the situation better. Boko Haram started August 2009 and it keeps spreading.

Would you say that Boko Haram gave birth to other terrorist and insurgent groups troubling the peace of Nigeria today?

One thing leads to the other. You see, Boko Haram couldn’t have really happened if government hadn’t stopped what I started.

Is that the Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)?

Yes. I remember when I was appointed IG June 2007, by November I had already stabilised and created the Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). I got them trained in Israel, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa. These are countries at that time that had a known history of terrorism. I got the ATS trained in those countries to understudy how they confronted terrorism there. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, one of the problems we have which is a hindrance to national growth and progress is tribalism, religious affiliations, nepotism and all that. Some people came up and alleged that Okiro has created the anti-terrorist squad to gather members of a particular religion and shoot them as terrorists. Two newspapers wrote editorials on that, claiming there is no terrorism in Nigeria, that I created ATS to give Nigeria a bad name to the outside world. So, because of that I now had to call a press conference to defend myself and my integrity. I explained that what I created was for all Nigerians and not for a particular religion or ethnic group because if a bomb is thrown anywhere, anyone within the killing radius of that bomb – whether he’s a Christian, Muslim, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba- will be killed. So, the ATS was not to guide or protect any particular people but for all Nigerians. I looked at all the countries bordering Nigeria and discovered that they were in confusion. So what I did was create a squad from the Nigerian Police Force to be ready for proactive action against terrorism in Nigeria. However, because of the hue and cry against it, all that I put in the budget to equip the squad- communication, vehicle etc, government did not approve them but I still deployed the squad. I sent a unit to Lagos, a unit to Port Harcourt, a unit to Kano, a unit to Maiduguri. Some governors called me to withdraw the men from their states. I withdraw them. I retired July 24, 2009. By August to September, Boko Haram had struck in Maiduguri. Since then Nigeria has known no peace. If government had insisted on the ATS and equipped it, the story would have been different today. Even Muhammed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader, I was monitoring him. I monitored him from Yobe to Maidugiri. I was monitoring him. I arrested him a couple of times. If government had taken action then, the story would have been different. It is late now. They have spread all over Nigeria.

You believe strongly that if the ATS was equipped and sustained we wouldn’t be having the problem of insecurity today?

Yes. It would have been well equipped to confront the insurgents. I looked at it and saw the need for it. Training and equipping the ATS was a bit deep in our budget, so I created the Police Anti- Terrorist Squad Training School located in Rivers State and brought experts from outside to come and teach them. They were trained operationally. That reduced the cost of training them abroad. I think the school no longer exists. It is very unfortunate.

What, in your view, are the biggest weaknesses in Nigeria’s security architecture today?

Well, I talk about my constituency, the police. The police is the lead agency in internal security in Nigeria but the police cannot perform magic. It cannot perform without the required equipment. As the two of us are here now, whatever is happening in Obalende, we will not know. We need communication equipment to know. There is an equipment that can be set up here now and we will see whatever is happening in Obalende but you and I don’t have it here. So, the point I’m trying to make is that the agencies should be well funded, have manpower, have equipment. The world is so advanced now that you can send drones to fight crime and insecurity, it’s no longer physical security like we have in those days. You see what America is doing. Are they angels? Are they from heaven? They are of the earth. They are human beings like us but they are performing wonders because of the equipment they have. We can do the same thing. It is just a matter of funding, manpower, training and equipment. Nigerians are very intelligent. If they are given what they require they will excel.

As a young man, what first attracted you to policing at a time the profession was not considered particularly prestigious or inspiring?

I was never attracted to the police. Never! I hated the police. As a student union leader at the University of Ibadan, the police to us that time as students were people we regarded as useless. We as students would demonstrate against government policies we considered bad and police would tear-gas us, so we hated the police. I looked down on them as people of low intelligence. But then, when I served in Maidugiri during my youth service in 1977… At that time, there was no road to Maiduguri. From Maidugiri to Port-Harcourt was a four-day journey and from Port-Harcourt to Maidugiri was also a four-day journey. So, during my youth service, I was given five days pass to travel home to see my people but I didn’t go because, with travelling to and fro taking eight days alone, I would have overstayed my pass. So, for one full year I didn’t see my people and that was the first time I would be staying that long without seeing them. So, it was while in Maidugiri that it was advertised in the paper – Daily Times – that the police were recruiting young graduates. I was not interested but a fellow corps member said in the previous year, his brother applied in Kano and they had to fly him In a Nigerian Airways flight from Kano to Lagos for the interview. And I exclaimed, is that so? Nigerian Airways? He said yes and I said me too will apply this year. I said I will fly to Lagos, and then get to Port Harcourt from there to see my people. Thirty of us applied but only four were selected for interview.

But this time around there was no plane taking us to Lagos because Maidugiri had only an airstrip. So, they conveyed us in a station wagon. By the time we got to Ibadan to continue our journey to Lagos, it was already late and the driver said there was no provision for us to stay in a hotel. And I suggested we go to UI- the University of Ibadan to pass the night. When we got there and students saw me with police vehicle, they shouted, Okiro, what are you doing with the police? I said we were going for interview. We were given a place to stay for t”e night and the next day we continued to Lagos. After the interview, out of the four of us, I was the only one taken. I now told the driver that I wanted to go to Port Harcourt, but he refused. Even when I said I would pay my fare, he still refused and insisted the instructions given to him was to take me to Lagos and bring me back to Maiduguri. I was very angry because my primary purpose of going for the interview was to use the opportunity to travel to Port Harcourt to see my family. I was sad. So, I returned to Maiduguri. I had six job offers: Customs, Rivers State Civil Service, Tide Newspaper, University of Port Harcourt, Police; I also had offer to do my Masters in UI.

When I was done with my NYSC, I moved from Maidugiri to Jos to spend the night so that I could continue my journey to Port Harcourt the next day. A colleague of mine, my schoolmate, Alhaji Bello- he wasn’t Alhaji then – was in Jos. I asked myself, why should I sleep at the motor park when I have a friend in Jos? I went straight to his house. Unfortunately, I over slept for the next day’s journey because I was tired. The bus was to leave by 6am but I woke up by 9 am. By the time I went to the park, the bus had already left. So I rebooked another bus for the next day. When I returned to Bello’s house, he had left for work and I was bored – you know I’m restless, sort of. So I took a taxi to the Police Staff College, Jos, venue of the training – a very beautiful place. Immediately I got there, some UI graduates who were on course 5 there started hailing and congratulating me, and I asked what happened? Did I win a raffle? They said they saw my name among those selected for Course 6. But I told them I wouldn’t come for the training and they were surprised. They asked why, but I didn’t tell them I hated the police. I merely told them that the I needed three days to travel to Port Harcourt and three days to return to Jos and that the training would have commenced before I would return. They took me to the course officer and the course officer took me to the Commandant. The Commandant asked, what is your problem? And I said I cannot come because of the time. He asked me when I would like to report and I said 9th of August. Inside me I was laughing because I knew I wasn’t coming. The next day, I left for Port Harcourt. I was actually eyeing Tide Newspaper owned by the Rivers State government to become Features Editor, because I wanted where I could be writing. But my father wanted me to join the Rivers State Civil Service as Assistant Secretary as it was called at that time with the aim of becoming a Permanent Secretary in future. But I said sir, I have a different thing in mind. One day, a friend of mine came and we were discussing and he said, Mike, which job offers you get sef? I mentioned them, I mentioned police last, and he shouted, Police! How manage? You get long leg? Na who carry you go police? He said his brother applied three times and himself applied too but never got it. How manage? Who introduced you to the IG? Police is very good, congratulations! When he left, I got up, wrote the six job offers in different pieces of paper, folded them and closed my eyes, shuffled them and prayed, God give me the best. Then I picked one of the folded papers. Lo and behold, it was police I picked! I dressed up, told my mother I was going to Jos. I didn’t tell my father because I didn’t want a conflict or challenge between my father and God. Luckily also for me that morning, when I came out, my father was with some friends. I merely told him I was going to Jos and he didn’t ask me what I was going to do there. He simply said okay. And he inquired when I would be coming back. I said I didn’t know yet. He said okay too. I reported at the Police Staff College August 19, 10 days late from the 9th I was given.

You were 10 days late?

Yes. I said to myself if they send me back for reporting late, I will pack my bags and go home and tell God it’s not my fault again. But surprisingly, they accepted me! Second week into the training I got a telegram. The course officer sent for me. When I got to him he asked, is your father still alive? I said yes. Is your mother still alive? I said yes. How many siblings do you have? I said excuse me sir, all these questions you are asking me I filled in the form, do you think I told you lies?. He now opened the drawer and brought out a telegram which read: “Father seriously sick, proceed immediately.” In my place, if your mother or father is dead and you are not at home, the message to you will not explicitly tell you that you are bereaved, it will be coated, so when I saw the telegram, I knew my father was dead.

But was he sick when you left Port Harcourt?

No. But there was confusion in me. The telegram was signed by him – Chief Samuel Okiro. I said to myself, if my father was dead, how come he sent a telegram to me? I was confused. The course officer said I should apply for casual leave. That my friend, Bello said he was going to accompany me to Port Harcourt the next day. When we arrived Port Harcourt, I saw my father drinking beer and talking with friends! I greeted him and went to the kitchen to see my mother. My mother shouted, you joined the police without telling your father? Your father is not happy with you, that is why he sent for you! I got the message. At night, my father knocked on my door and shouted, get up here! I got up and sat down. You joined the police? I said yes sir. He was furious. Is that what we discussed? I kept quite and he continued. He said if you knew you were going to join the police, why did you allow me to waste my time and money to train you up to the university? You should have joined since so that I can disown you, so that I will know I have no son again. I said sir, the police officers now, some of them are graduates, we are Course 6 set of officers who are graduates. And secondly sir, I’m your son, I respect you but there are two things you will concede to me in life. He asked, what are they? I said, one, the woman I will marry because she is going to live with me all my life. You can advise me, but I will take the decision myself and not you. The second one is the job that I do. You can advise me but I will decide. He kept quiet and went back to bed. Next morning at about 5am or so, he knocked at my door again and I opened. He said he had considered what I told him the previous night and agreed that I was mature enough to face the world, that if it is the police I want to join, he wished me the best and that I should kneel down for him to pray for me. He prayed for me and after praying for me, I said Bello let’s go let’s go before he changes his mind. I packed immediately and went back to Jos. That was how I found myself in the police.

Your tenure as Chairman of the Police Service Commission was widely regarded as eventful. What would you describe as the most significant reforms and innovations you introduced, and how have they impacted the commission?

A lot of them. You see, the act establishing the commission is very clear on certain issues. It said the Police Service Commission can formulate and implement policies. It is an umbrella authority for the police, which they didn’t use. But I used it. The act says the commission can recruit, promote, discipline, deploy all police officers apart from the IG, which means the commission has the right to recruit. I started it. The IG then had a problem with that and we went to the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister for Justice and the act was read, very clear. The sticking point became the words, “appoint” and “recruit” and we had to go back again to the Attorney-General and it was agreed that appointment and recruitment were the same thing, so the Police Service Commission took it up from there. In promotion also, I felt that it was not enough or proper for the IG to promote certain officers without us seeing them. So, the IG sends the list of officers to be promoted to us. We invite them for interview. In the process, some were rejected because they couldn’t make good officers.

Is there a forum where former IGPs meet to deliberate on Nigeria’s security challenges and offer strategic advice to the government or the incumbent Inspector-General?

Yes, there is. One of the innovations I introduced as IGP was that I felt there should be a forum for retired IGPs in the sense that they have seen it all, they are not afraid of anybody. They can say things as they are or as they should be. So, I put up a former IGs forum. I wrote to the President, Yar’ Adua and he approved it. He was to inaugurate it but unfortunately the day he was to do so, he had an official engagement that took his time.. I think he was hosting foreign Ambassadors that day so, he sent the Vice President Jonathan to represent him. The oldest among us was MD Yusuf. At a later date, the President invited us. It was there he talked about police reforms. He made MD Yusuf Chairman of the Police Reforms Committee but right there, MD Yusuf said, no, I will not do it. He rejected the appointment. His reason was that government will set up a committee but will not implement the recommendations of such committee. He said he would only accept the appointment if President Yar’Adua promised him that government would implement whatever was recommended. The president said Ok, whatever recommendations you make, we shall implement.

Does the former IG forum still meet?

Yes. We met two or three weeks ago. We met about state police.

As Nigeria approaches the 2027 general election, what measures should security agencies adopt to guarantee peaceful, credible, and violence-free polls?

They must not be partisan. Their job is to provide security for the venue, the polling units, electoral officers and electoral materials. They are not to get involved in other things not related to security and maintenance of law and order. (The Sun)

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