“Law and order do not begin at the police station or the courthouse,” Tunji Disu wrote on X in 2025. “They begin at home, in the quiet corners where parents teach their children right from wrong. When this foundation cracks, society inherits the fallout.” The maxim almost sums up the policing approach of the man who, on Tuesday, was named the acting inspector-general of police (IGP).
Police is a mostly thankless career, especially in a country like Nigeria, where there is deep-seated mistrust for the men in black. But after 30 years on the job, after leading squads from Lagos to Rivers to Abuja, Disu’s record in the force attracts mostly praise and commendations from residents, stakeholders, and community leaders.
The affable 59-year-old brought a genial face to policing at every posting without losing discipline and order. As the commander of the Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Disu nicknamed his team “The Good Guys” to counter public misgivings against police. The friendliness extended only to upright citizens; criminals felt the opposite, as RRS was named “Best Anti-Crime Police Squad in West Africa” by Security Watch Africa (SWA).
He used a carrot-and-stick approach as the commissioner of police in Rivers — community engagements with traditional rulers and indigenes in the daylight and vicious attacks on cultists in the night. Under his command, Gift Okpara, a serial kidnapper, notorious cultist, and cop-killer, otherwise known as 2Baba, was terminated. He was awarded the “Best Commissioner of Police of the Year” at the 2024 Inspector General of Police (IGP) Recognition Awards.
Disu mastered how to handle the tightrope of love and discipline from his childhood as a son of two disciplinarians but doting parents.
Post A Comment: