If there’s one thing synonymous with Assistant Inspector General of Police, Joseph Mbu- it is controversy.

The man has engineered and walked into his fair share of controversies, which he seemed to thrive on, until the past few months.

As it stands, Mbu is presently the Commandant of Police College, in Jos, where his silence is starting to be heard down here in Lagos.

From threatening to kill civilians to unlawful detention of journalists, the former Lion of the Police Force has been around the block of controversy.

Here are 5 major controversies he became prominent for;

1. The Amaechi/Rivers days

When Joseph Mbu served as commissioner of Police in Rivers state, the relationship between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Jonathans was already fast deteriorating.

It is widely believed that Patience Jonathan used Mbu to actively tackle Amaechi and limit his power in the state.

In 2013, Amaechi, unable to stand Mbu anymore, wrote a letter threatening to stop funding the police, unless the Inspector General of Police and the Federal Government redeployed Mbu to another state.

After his redeployment from Rivers state, Mbu referred to himself as ‘the lion that tamed the leopard of Port Harcourt’.

Amaechi, not one to take a punch and walk away, responded saying Mbu was a toothless puppet of Patience Jonathan.

 

2. Amaechi Anakwe’s unlawful arrest

In October 2014, Joseph Mbu, ordered the arrest and detention of Amaechi Anakwe, a journalist working with African Independent Television, for describing him as “controversial” on a TV programme, Matters Arising.

To Mbu, being called a word that has been used on many public figures since time immemorial, is slander and against the law, hence the arrest.

The public outcry and backlash received by Mbu forced him to release Mr Anakwe, after making him to sweat in detention.

 

3. Order to kill civilians

In February 2015, Joseph Mbu, upon his redeployment to the Ogun State Police Command, instructed his men to take the lives of unruly civilians.

He had said: “If one of my men is killed, I shall kill twenty of them but don’t shoot first. If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence.

“If you shoot my policeman, I will shoot 20 of you, I will shoot a hundred of you because we are coming to you for peace. We are not coming to you to come and kill you.”

 

4. Mbu boasts about his death threats

In April 2015, after the conclusion of the Lagos state election, Joseph Mbu, boasted that his threat to kill 10 people for every policeman killed made the polls peaceful.

He said:”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.”

 

5. Alleged torture of Forex dealer

Joseph Mbu, was in June 2015, accused of ordering the torture and 80-days detention of a foreign exchange dealer, Alhaji Suleiman Yerima alongside his friend.

Yerima had petitioned President Buhari to take action but Mbu put out a response in defence of himself.

“I read in the papers about some people saying I ordered their torture. These are people who specialised in defrauding people. Somebody gave you N300m and asked for dollars, and the next day you disappeared. Those who borrowed from businesses have lost their capital, while those who worked in banks have lost their jobs.

“They failed to tell the press how they offered Dantoro N50m so that the matter would be swept under the carpet. We will not allow injustice.”

 

Shortly after that episode with the forex dealer, Joseph Mbu was redeployed to Jos.