Private security agents make case for Ali’s appointment as Lagos CP

Christopher Oji

With the recent promotion of the incumbent Commissioner of Police in charge of Lagos State, Zubairu Muazu, to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) and his imminent redeployment, a good number of Lagos residents have called on the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission to ensure that Mohammed Ali, Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, succeeds Muazu as Lagos State Commissioner of Police.
As usual, when the seat of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police is vacant or about to become vacant, high-level lobbying and networking with the powers that be have begun in earnest within and outside the police establishment.
However, a sampling of opinions by some journalists has revealed that many Lagos residents who are familiar with the activities of officers and men of the Lagos State Police Command largely love DCP Mohammed Ali. One of such respondents, the managing director of Angel Guards Security Limited, Apapa, Mr. Israel Asigbe, said, “DCP Mohammed Ali has paid his dues. He was an excellent police officer when he was in Apapa, where he was the Area Crime Officer, before becoming the Divisional Police Officer. He proved himself. Even when he was redeployed to Denton Police Division, he was a super cop. When he was the commander in charge of Area C, he also proved himself.”
According to the Angel Guards boss, even as the DCP in charge of operations at the state command, Ali is still serving with passion and everybody is still feeling his touch. He said: “Ali is in a better position to handle the office of the commissioner of police in charge of Lagos.”
Publisher of Security Watch Africa magazine and Crime Watch television show host, Mr. Patrick Agbambu, spoke in a similar vein, describing Ali as very qualified to take over on the exit of Muazu as Lagos police boss.
Said he: “Ali has proven to be a man capable of handling the Lagos State Police Command.
He has been tried, tested and proven to be a man who is passionate about his job. Like former commissioner of police, Imohimi Edgal, who was DCP, Operations, when he assumed office as Lagos State Commissioner of Police, during which he did wonderfully well, I believe Ali would also do excellently well.”
DCP Ali is unarguably one of the few officers who can proudly claim to have an in-depth knowledge of the Lagos terrain, with its attendant crime characteristics, based on the fact that, out of the 29 years he has served so far in the Nigeria Police Force, 14 and half years have been spent in Lagos State alone.