He rose to become a Deputy inspector General of Police, DIG, but those close to him believe he is the best Inspector General of Police, IGP, Nigeria never had. Ask any Nigerian about his or her impression of the Nigeria Police Force, and he or she would be quick to tell you the institution is a cesspool of rot and corruption. Yet, Omeben walked through it smelling like a rose. Now a pastor and shepherd of the Jesus Families Ministries Church, in Alimosho, a Lagos suburb, the cop-turned-preacher remains one of the best things to have happened to the police force.

Here, in his own words, he tells the story of his stewardship. He, among others, and for the first time, speaks exclusively on the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, revealing how certain ‘fixations’ frustrated his work when he was assigned to investigate the high profile murder. Although he did not say so directly, he disclosed that he did not get the best in terms of cooperation from the Newswatch team as they refused to produced Kayode Soyinka, who was at the breakfast table with Giwa, but who was unscathed by the explosion despite his proximity to the site of the tragedy.

“Dele Giwa’s case taught me many lessons,” says Omeben. “It was a frustrating task. When I took over the case from Mr. Victor Pam, it was still very sensational. It attracted every attention, but there were a lot of flaws, which even the society did not want to correct. There is a thing in investigation which one has to watch out for or take precautions against. There is the tendency for people to make up their minds as to what they want to see or hear. It may not necessarily be the truth and once they are so fixated, every other thing that somebody else would say would not mean anything to them.

Dele Giwa’s case suffered such a fixation.
“I did what every serious investigator should do; I went to the scene of crime. When I got there, I was shown where Dele was supposed to have been sitting with Kayode Soyinka near a staircase that has a toilet by the side. I was shown the door by the kitchen through which Billy (Dele’s son) brought in the parcel and gave it to his father. At that point, Soyinka left to use the toilet. Dele Giwa opened the parcel; it exploded and killed him, unfortunately. The bomb destroyed all the metal protectors and things in the toilet. But the man of flesh in the toilet, nothing happened to him. And I decided to ask the question, ‘was he wearing an armoured guard? Was he wearing a bomb protector? Why did he not have a scratch?’

“Then, I said I would like to see Dan Agbese, Soyinka and Ray Ekpu. Dan Agbese came without Soyinka. He came without Ekpu. They started writing insinuations upon insinuations. I told them, ‘Produce Soyinka. Soyinka is a suspect.’ I cried my voice hoarse. They wouldn’t produce Soyinka. The next thing I heard was that Soyinka had left for London. Produce Soyinka, they would say produce Babangida. I said ‘that’s not the answer.’ By my training, when you are investigating any case, you start from inside and you move to the perimeter. You don’t start from the perimeter and move to the inside.”

The super cop-turned-preacher speaks on other landmarks in his life and career, and says God has been extremely wonderful to him.
Enjoy the interview.

This year, you would be 77, and for that age, you look very good sir. How is life in retirement?
Life in retirement is not bad at all. It is a period to rest and take stock of your life. A period when you realise that you are nearer to where you are going than where you are coming from. I love the police force. I thank God that I was able to contribute my own little quota in the service of my country through the force. I am a happy man, even in retirement.

You left the police force in 1989, today, would you say you’re proud of the institution?
I am proud of the police as an institution, but I am not proud of their performance. Yes, I was a member of the Police Reform Committee. After that, there was yet another reform committee. If the recommendations are put in place, Nigeria would be better for it. What we have is that we have people who are afraid to implement recommendations. We have a penchant in this nation for formation of committees. When you want to buy time, you form a committee. Blueprints would come out, but the recommendations are never implemented. And the worse part of the whole exercise is this: serving or retired police officers would sit and give recommendations, then, you bring civilians to give you a blueprint on implementation. Tell me, how would a civilian know what is hurting in the police? It makes me laugh. If government is serious, they should call policemen who made the recommendations to implement them.

There was time in Russia, after Khrushchev left office, when they found that Russia was as corrupt as Nigeria is. They had to gather retired Generals of good repute to come and help put things in order. They did their best before Putin came in. In Cuba, they did the same thing. We can do it here, but we’re afraid that if these young people come in, they may probe us and find out what we are doing. What is wrong? Let them probe now. If they find anything wrong, let them say it. We are where we are because there’s nobody to say what is wrong. And if people say what is wrong, there’s nobody who has the moral fibre and courage to implement it. That’s the problem. We know the answer. By ‘we’, I mean the police community.

May I also make this observation: A soldier has served as minister for police affairs; a soldier had served as minister for the military. A Naval officer is serving in internal affairs. We’ve got somebody from the Immigration who had served as minister for internal affairs. What have the police done? Why can’t a retired policeman be a minister for police affairs and let them see a turnaround? You go and bring a military man to be minister of police affairs. Military that destroyed the police. Come on now, that’s not fair at all.

Let’s travel down in time to when you enlisted in the service. Was your decision influenced by the fact that your father was in the service?
No. My father had tried to convince me to join the police, but I rebelled. I said I would never be a policeman. I asked him, ‘Papa, you were in the police, what did you gain? Look at you, a Lance Corporal, letters of commendation, plaques and everything in the house. Where is the money for it?’
Instead of the police, I went to join the Forestry Department as forestry assistant. I was hoping to take an entrance examination to the University of Ibadan since my father had said I couldn’t go to India. In the college, I was a mini politician. I loved Mbonu Ojike. I used to mimic him- boycotting the boycottables. I even started wearing native dresses like him.

I was in a place called Sakponba, not far away from Sapele, fellowshipping with gorillas in the forest. Then, one day, I went to Sapele to buy foodstuffs. I bought a copy of the Nigerian Pilot. I saw that Mbonu was dead. I said, my own idol dead, and I didn’t know? I was told he had died three months back. I was annoyed. ‘How can Mbonu have been dead for three months and I am not aware? This bush is not good for me.’ In anger, I went home. The next day, I resigned. The man with whom I was working tried to talk me out of it. He said, ‘what’s your own with Mbonu?’ He tried to make me change my mind.

I gave one-month notice, left Sakponba and went to Benin. Before the expiration of my notice, I decided to come to Lagos. I was staying with an uncle, Chief A. A. Ordia. It was while there that I saw a newspaper advert calling for application into the Nigeria Police as Cadet Inspectors. I went to Police Headquarters, Obalende. The man, who was in charge, a sergeant, said he wouldn’t give me the form except I was able to convince him that I was qualified.  I said what was the qualification? He said four credits-English Language, Mathematics, and two other subjects. I told him I had ‘A’s. He shouted at me, and said: ‘We don’t want ‘A’s. I said we want credits.’

In frustration, I left his office. I was walking along the corridor of Force Headquarters when I ran into a white man, Mr. Briffit. He said, ‘Young man, why are you loitering here?’ I told him I was not loitering; that I wanted to join the police but I had been denied forms. He asked about my qualification. As soon as I told him, he said, ‘Follow me.’ He took me to his office and gave me to sit while he sent his orderly to go and bring the forms. Mr. Briffit, with his own hands, filled the forms. He left Part ‘D’. ‘Who do you know in Lagos?’ I told him. He said Ordia, the sportsman? I said yes. He said I should tell him to fill Part ‘D’. When I returned the form, Mr. Briffit told me to come for interview first week in September.

How do I get a job? I went to Dr. Abebe to say I wanted a job. He told me, ‘There is an exam coming up in UAC. I will put your name. If you pass it, that’s your luck.’ I did the exams; I found it was too simple. I passed and I was sent to CAD, (Central Accountants Department), Iddo, as an accounts trainee. They were all hoping I was going to be an accountant. But in my heart, I knew I was only killing time. When it was like three weeks for me to resume in Police College, I went to the white man, Mr. Makings, ‘I am sorry sir, I have to go. I attended school under a scholarship. My father has just written me that I have to come and work for the West Ishan Council; that if I failed, my father would have to pay back the money they spent training me.” (Laughter)  Holy lies.

The oyinbo said, ‘Christopher, oh, we shall miss you.’ I told him, ‘I hate to go too. I had thought that under you, I’d become an accountant.’
In the evening, I went to buy bucket and everything. On September 19, I resumed at the Police College. I graduated as Cadet Inspector. And that was how the journey started.

You rose to become a DIG. But there was a time you were almost retired prematurely way back. What happened?
I was an Assistant Commissioner then. I was born again and wasn’t doing all the things other policemen were doing. Because they were not comfortable with me, my boss pencilled down my name that I should be retired as ACP. He said I was not giving full time to police work. A girl in the Registry who saw the file came to tell me. She was weeping. I told her, don’t weep. I said at best, I would go back to the university. I had got admission to London University. I said I would go and complete my law degree there.

What year was that?
The year Murtala Mohammed came to power. (1976). They put my name down for retirement. They were hiding it from me. One Assistant Commissioner of Police, an Hausa man, who saw it came to me, ‘Chris, what have you done. Why must your boss put your name down for retirement? What have you done?’ I said I don’t know. He said, well, your countryman gave your name. You can’t believe that a man from Edo State gave my name that I should be retired.

I went home and told my wife, ‘Maybe we’ve come to the end of the road,’ I told her. ‘If it is, let’s thank God because when I joined the police, I was hoping to be an Inspector. Now that I have risen to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, I thank God.’ So, I applied for leave so that the so-called bad news of retirement can meet me at home. In the second week of my being on leave, my telephone rang. It was from Alhaji Gambo. ‘Chris, you’ve been promoted Deputy Commissioner.’ I told him to stop mocking me. He said no, you have been promoted. He sent me a copy of the signal. When I read it, I jumped. I screamed. I called my wife, ‘Come on, darling, I have been promoted Deputy Commissioner of Police.’ I went to the bath and had a good shower.

Where were you at this time?
I was in Special Branch; that was the intelligence wing of the Nigerian Police. Then, we used to be well dressed. I would go to London, buy the best suits. So, I put on my best suit, looked at myself in the mirror; I knew I was good.

The amazing thing was that the first week the rumour of my retirement started, I had just built a small Celestial Church in Maroko to keep life going. We had our harvest. There, a prophet told me, ‘Son of man, the Lord said, He was going to give you double promotion.’ I said, ‘Praise the Lord.’ But I did not believe.

In my mind, I was saying ‘are you going to kill all the Assistant Commissioners who are older than myself? Are you going to kill all the Deputy Commissioners?’ I just said, ‘Ok. Halleluyah.’ He told me, ‘You’re doubting.’ I said, ‘No, I can’t doubt God.’

Then, suddenly, Gambo phoned that I had been promoted Deputy Commissioner. I dressed up to go and thank M. D. Yusuf, the IGP then. I went to his office and announced myself to the secretary. She asked whether I was on appointment. I said, ‘No ma, but please tell him that Chris Omeben is here.’ I was told to come in. He said anything? I said, ‘Sir, I’ve come to thank you for allowing God to use you for my benefit. You didn’t allow the world to mislead you about me.’ He said, ‘Yes, I heard that you go to church. I said what has that got to do with the police. You’re an efficient officer. Why must they punish you because you go to church? I couldn’t find any reason for it. That’s why I cancelled your name and decided to promote you.’ After thanking him, I was about going out, then he called me back, ‘By the way, where would you like to work. Should I post you to Benin, your state?’ I told him to let me pray about it. He said come back tomorrow. Throughout the night, I prayed. And the Lord told me not to go to Benin.

So, I went back to him the next day at about 10a.m. As soon as he saw me, he said, ‘Chris, I would not send you to Benin. We’re creating new states. Would you like to remain in headquarters or you want to go to a state to fly flag as Commissioner. I said I would like to go to a state to fly flag as Commissioner of Police. He drafted a signal to the Head of State telling him that he had appointed me as Commissioner for the newly created Ogun with immediate effect.

So, that same day, I was promoted Commissioner, I went to the store, bought uniform. I was floating on air. As I entered the police headquarters, they were all shouting, ‘Young Commissioner, young commissioner, young commissioner.’ I was walking with swagger. I was walking with swagger. Then, I climbed up to meet the boss who had put my name on the retirement list. I knocked on his door and went in, ‘I have come to thank you sir, for the good work you’ve done for me. Thank you for recommending me to the IG. Thank you sir.’ He said, ‘I know you’re quite qualified.’

According to the prophecy of God, I got a double promotion. Nobody died ahead of me. I jumped many people and became CP. My father was a policeman; he ended as a Lance Corporal. He became a Lance Corporal after serving for 18 years. I became a Commissioner of Police after serving just 18 years. Can you see how great God is? That is why I find it difficult to forget God. I have no cause to forget God. He is the only one that is enough. He has done overtime for me. My father and I were hoping that I would end as an Inspector, but here was I, promoted a CP.

Apart from that, as the years went by, I became a Deputy Inspector General of Police. I give glory to God. Who could have ever thought that that would happen? And it was in the midst of that I was still running the church privately.
I got all promotions, to God’s glory, without paying a kobo to anyone as bribe. I never paid any money to anybody to be promoted ASP; to be promoted DSP; to be promoted Superintendent; to be promoted CSP, ACP, DCP. Until I became DIG, I paid no kobo. God paid all my bills. That’s why I don’t find it funny to hear that people are taking money from people to promote them to any rank whatsoever. Either in my time or after, to hear that policemen collect money to promote them sickens my heart; it makes me sad because nobody took any money from me.

I am expecting everybody to operate under that atmosphere. Look, this rank, you are not carrying it anywhere. Twenty-two years ago, I was a DIG; today, I am not. Boys who were Inspectors 22 years ago are now AIGs and DIGs. It is a transient position. We should understand that this thing is not permanent. We should not carry our shoulders so high to say I have done what Napoleon could not do. No. It should not be that way.

I thank God that He gave me a level head never to be involved in what some of my colleagues are involved in. I knew some of my colleagues who preferred money to ranks. Some of them ended up as ASP. Some as CSP. Of all my colleagues, only one came close to my rank; and that is Mr. Timothy Osiyemi. We were squad mates. He worked under me as Commissioner but thanks be to God that he ended as AIG. He’s the only person who came near to me. He was a very humble man.

No doubt you have an interesting story in the service. What would you say were your most challenging moments?
There are two. The first one happened when I was an ASP. A report was written against me by the Special Branch, (later renamed FIIB which he eventually headed) that I was a communist, because of one Dr. S. K. Momodu, whose father was then the traditional ruler of Agbede. His father was sick and was admitted at UCH. S. K. Momodu came to stay with me to enable him visit his father at the hospital. I was in Ibadan. When he left my house, he forgot a letter written to him by his girlfriend in GDR (Germen Democratic Republic) in one of my books. So, a friend of mine, Mr. Nwaka came to visit me; he was looking through my books and saw the letter. I didn’t know he took note that the letter was from the GDR.

Was Nwaka a policeman?
Yes. Then, he wrote a special report against me that I was a communist. He said since such a letter could be found in my house, I must be a communist. I was not called to question. They wrote straight to the prime minister’s office. I was reverted in rank to Inspector. I felt bad. My father felt bad. After my promotion to ASP, I had bought one of the most romantic cars in town, Citreon ID 19. Only four of us had it in the whole of the then Western Region. Also, I moved into a posh apartment in GRA. In fact, I was scheduled to depart for Congo Kinshasa on a United Nations operation in 1963/64. I had packed my things when the telephone rang. I was summoned to the office. I went there with my load in the Land Rover.

When my officer, Mr. Sawyers, saw me, he said, ‘Christopher, I am sorry, you better stand down.’ I said, ‘Why’? He took me to his office and asked me, ‘Christopher, are you a communist?’ I said, ‘Communist?

What does that mean?’
He said nobody asked him a question about me; they just reverted me from Lagos. He vowed never to take it. Instead of making me revert to an Inspector, he made me an acting ASP. He said to me, ‘You must wear that rank, even in an acting capacity.’ I was transferred from Ibadan to Osogbo so that those who knew me would not know what I was going through. It was a great ordeal.

The only comfort I had was God and my father. My father left the village to come and stay with me. He said instead of the torn to pierce my feet, it must pierce his own feet. He said he would not live to see the torn remaining in my feet. (The interview was halted for about two minutes as tears flowed down his cheeks).

So, after that what happened, sir?
We took to prayers. This thing happened in February. I was not restored to my rank until August 1963. I wasn’t a Christian as such, but I just believed that the truth would come out. I was in the office one day in August when the gazette was brought to me. I was just flipping through it when I saw, ‘C. Omeben promoted ASP.’ I screamed. I took the gazette and ran home to show it to my father. When I got that rank back, my father said he was satisfied; and that he could now go home and die. So, I gave my father the car. He went home. From there, things started going well.

So, that was the most challenging moment of my life. You know, for you to be promoted and be demoted could be very painful. I had a wife and children to look after. It was a big test. But as I found out later in the years, he that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. I passed my tests; and that was why God trusted me with what I have today.

I spent about 18 months in Osogbo until Mid-Western Region was created. I was transferred there because I was a Midwesterner. I was moved to so many places including Agenebode, Sapele and Ughelli before I ended up as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the governor of the old Mid Western Region.

What was the other challenging moment?
That was during the Anini saga when I lost my driver. I went on a missionary journey in Benin, then, Anini came, snatched my driver and killed him thinking it was me. It was a very terrible time because I least expected it. News went round, particularly in the family of the man who was my driver, Mr. Otue… The family said I had used their son for rituals. One of his brothers had the impudence of telling me to go and produce the corpse, that they wanted to go and bury him properly. I cried to the high heavens. I cried and cried and cried.

What happened to the body?
It was not found as at that time. And there was pressure from the side of government. Babangida would ask my IG, ‘My friend, where is Anini?’ And I was the man in charge of Alagbon (FIIB). So we brought our heads together, sent people out. Parry Osayande, a Commissioner of Police was withdrawn from Makurdi and sent to Benin with a team. The team did a good job; laid traps here and there and Anini was arrested. He faced the law, was executed and the land had peace.

Unfortunately, in Benin, some people were thinking that he was a warrior that re-incarnated and they were celebrating him. I felt very sorry for their lack of understanding.
Another thing that hurt me was when I found out that a policeman that worked under me, (George Iyamu), was the informant. He was the one telling them about my movements. When he was arrested, I didn’t know he was the informant. I was treating him like a gentleman in Alagbon, giving him special food from the Mess, until we got confession from Monday Osunbor that he was the one who led them. So, I cut short that food, put him in a German Cell. He was there until he was tried.
I thank God that God won the battle.

How much was your Citroen car?
It was one thousand, three hundred and something pounds. It was the most expensive car. Mercedes Benz was only eight hundred and fifty-seven pounds.

Why did you decide to buy such an expensive car?
My father said he didn’t know I would be an officer; that he wanted to let the world know that God had done him great. The advance couldn’t cover it. He added money for me to be able to buy it.

What was your rank by the time your father died?
I was an ASP.

While you were talking about your most challenging moments, I had expected you to list the Dele Giwa murder, considering the fact that you also handled that case file at a point. Are you not surprised that over 25 years after, the case has not been resolved?
I am not surprised…but let me tell you that the blood of Dele Giwa cries for justice.

I asked the question because everybody agrees you are a fine officer. How come you failed to crack it the same way you did in the Anini saga and so many other cases?
I love that question. I love it. Let me tell you, I trained in Britain as a detective. I trained in the eastern world as a detective. I trained in Egypt as a detective. So, if you wake me up and ask about the act of detecting crime, I would tell you without referring to any book. When I was posted to Alagbon, I was not surprised because I had done all the courses that needed to be done. When that case came up, you found that there were a lot of outside influences. People who had never been detectives, people who had never seen the four walls of a detective school were now telling me what to do and how to investigate a crime that had a lot of interesting clues.

‘We know the persons who killed him…Ibrahim Badamosi Badamosi is the one. The DIG Alagbon must go and arrest him. We know the person; Akilu must be interrogated.’
Mr. Victor Pam was in Alagbon before me. I took the case over from him…Dele Giwa’s case taught me many lessons. It was a frustrating task. When I took over the case from Mr. Victor Pam, it was still very sensational. It attracted every attention, but there were a lot of flaws, which even the society did not want to correct. There is a thing in investigation which one has to watch out for or take precautions against. There is the tendency for people to make up their minds as to what they want to see or hear. It may not necessarily be the truth and once they are so fixated, every other thing that somebody else would say would not mean anything to them. Dele Giwa’s case suffered such a fixation.

I did what every serious investigator should do; I went to the scene of crime. When I got there, I was shown where Dele was supposed to have been sitting with Kayode Soyinka near a staircase that has a toilet by the side. I was shown the door by the kitchen through which Billy (Dele’s son) brought in the parcel and gave it to his father. At that point, Soyinka left to use the toilet. Dele Giwa opened the parcel; it exploded and killed him, unfortunately.

The bomb destroyed all the metal protectors and things in the toilet. But the man of flesh in the toilet, nothing happened to him. And I decided to ask the question, ‘was he wearing an armoured guard? Was he wearing a bomb protector? Why did he not have a scratch?’ Then, I said I would like to see Dan Agbese, Soyinka and Ray Ekpu. Dan Agbese came without Soyinka. He came without Ekpu. They started writing insinuations upon insinuations. I told them, ‘Produce Soyinka. Soyinka is a suspect.’ I cried my voice hoarse. They wouldn’t produce Soyinka. The next thing I heard was that Soyinka had left for London. Produce Soyinka, they would say produce Babangida. I said ‘that’s not the answer.’

By my training, when you are investigating any case, you start from inside and you move to the perimeter. You don’t start from the perimeter and move to the inside. As I am moving outward, if I come across evidence that connects Babangida, I would call him. They refused to produce Soyinka. Then, they said somebody had just come from Gabon who has evidence that I need. The man brought the cassette. He wanted money. Gambo said, give him.

How much?
Maybe N50, 000 or so. I can’t remember exactly. I gave him the money as an informant. I took the cassette; it was in French. He came with tapes and said those were the discussions, which took place in Gabon about how it was planned. That Dele Giwa should be eliminated and some trade union unionists were involved.
He said it cost him so much money to go to Gabon to collect the tapes. So, you must pay me so much. Money was his priority and once I have an informant who makes money his priority, I don’t take him seriously.

He talked and talked; I was busy reading my newspapers. When he started bugging me, I said, please I will listen to that cassette at my own time. He said, ‘But I have been here since.’ I said I would listen to it at my own time. So, he left. I listened to the cassette and I found that it was so disjointed; it had no relevance to what we were looking for. I called somebody to transcribe the whole thing. The discussion was so irrelevant and I told Gambo there was nothing to pick from it. He said, ‘Chris, treat it the way you want.’ There was nothing about Dele Giwa; just ordinary meeting, where they were talking about African Union and so on.
I took it to Gambo and told him there was nothing in it. He said, ‘Chris, they would continue to worry you about this…Just do your work.’

He formed a special squad. That was how (Abubakar) Tsav came in. Tsav was an Assistant Commissioner…when I saw in the newspaper that Tsav said he came to my office, I just laughed. How can an Assistant Commissioner come into the office of a DIG? The police had not decayed. Assistant Commissioner? Even Mr. Smith couldn’t enter my office when he was a DC let alone a miserable ACP. He wanted to show he was an activist.

He was telling a lie and Gani Fawehinmi bought it from him.
In anger, the IG said, ‘Leave the special team to investigate. Get out of it.’ So, I handed off it. I didn’t bother myself again.

source: sunnewsonline