My Threat Of Killing People During The Elections Was To Instill Fear In Them- Mbu

Assistant Inspector General of
Police, Zone 2, Joseph Mbu, has said the threat he issued to kill 10 people for
every policeman killed made the conduct of the Lagos State election peaceful. Mbu
says as a police officer he is not allowed to kill citizens, but only made that
statement to instill fear in them and it worked. Here is what he told
journalists shortly after the elections;

“Generally, people are becoming
more and more mature, sensitive and reasonable. And anyway, the statement I
made, which generated a lot of (controversy); people misconstrued it all over,
but that also helped the police because people say, ‘this man has come o and
whatever he says, he means it’, and that also instilled fear in them.

“Go and check all the places where
I have served, how many people have died? We don’t kill that way. But you have
to instill fear so that people will have more respect for the police.

“You know how police were
perceived those days, but now police give orders and people say police cannot
do anything. But with those few words (I said), people are now scared and say,
‘if you misbehave, police are going to react’.

“Now we have succeeded as far as I
am concerned,” he said.