COMMISSIONER OF POLICE ALI MUHAMMED ALI FCIA,psc+ COMMISSIONER WITH A PROFESSIONALSTRATEGIC AND MAGIC WAND

COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
ALI MUHAMMED ALI FCIA,psc+ COMMISSIONER WITH A PROFESSIONALSTRATEGIC AND MAGIC WAND

The acquisition of expertise in a given field of human Endeavour is not just a bread and butter affair, it is therefore a fact that mediocre or a half-baked practitioners cannot attain the status of the seasoned professional. The extent of career building knitted with impeccable character can give birth to a competent Expert. This kind of person is proactive and versatile. In addition, the expert is also a team player, an achiever and a break of new grounds. All these are the stabilizing props that make such an expert in a focal point and the preferred one when a trusted person is being sought. The Centre-Point or nucleus of the foregoing will help in assessing the man, CP Ari Muhammed Ali not only in his present designation as the Delta State Commissioner of Police but also on his pedigree and antecedents.

Orderlinessin the land and conformity to the laws in every given society is paramount to human existence. The whole matter of law, order and conformity, borders on security of lives and properties which may make orMar a society depending on how they are being handled.

Delta State has come a long way in her Thirty one years of existence as a state. There is increase in population as a result of migration from the villages to the urban areas. The aftermath of this development is risen in crime rate. These variables have posed serious challenges to the police and other security operatives in the state. Security is a serious issue all over the world as there is global increase in crime. It is therefore a thing of serious concern to governments, the police and individuals. The state government is religiously committed to ensuring that the rate of crime in the state is brought to the barest minimum.

Delta State  that has been in the eyes of the storm in terms of kidnapping, raping, maiming and all sorts of crimes is now enjoying relative peace  courtesy of a cultured Police force under the magic wand Commissioner of Police, CP Ari Muhammed Ali.Prior to his assumption of duty  as the 20th Commissioner of Police, Delta State Police Command on January 12, 2021, the state,  which is adjudged as a mini Nigeria, an admixture of oil and agricultural producing state located in the South-South geo-political zone of the country, was notorious for  criminal activities With an estimated land area of 16, 842 square kilometers and a landmass of 18, 050 square kilometers of which 60 per cent is land and the rest creeks and streams; successive Commissioners of Police of the command bore witness to the fact that policing the state was far from being a tea party. It was a story of one day, one crime.

TheForward News media in discharging its responsibility as the society’s watch-dog was in the Office of the Commissioner of Police Delta State, CP Ari Muhammed Ali to x-ray his operational plan and vision in Delta State.

Excerpts:

You are the Commissioner of Police in this State close to 22Months now, so what have been your experiences?

My experiences is basically like anyone would say, it is a great one, no devoid of any regret or what so ever because when I look at the journey so far and x-ray my policing system in this state, I think it has been a wonderful one talking from the part of my experiences and am sure the public out their can attest to the fact that since assumption of office/duty in this state, the experiences has been a great one so no cause of alarm.

Am impress with your style of leadership, especially with your subordinates, your leadership is such that gives recognition to people’s ideas, having the interest of others in mind and respect for your subordinates. Sir how have you been able to manage being the commissioner of police in your capacity and also so humble to listen to the people’s ideas and feedback to bring forth results in the command?

Well, I take delight in listen to people and also adding values to people’s life. What I mean is that I have never in any way seeing myself as that boss sitting up there that is inaccessible to the people and therefore anybody that come to see me, I take delight in ensuring that the person do not go back the same way he comes, for instance people have this perspective about police and the perception is that police are not friendly people but rather the commissioner of police is a tin god that is not accessible to people but I think my coming here has change that narrative, my subordinates are extremely close to me, I have never made it in such a way that any of them that have any problem whether officially or personal will not have access to me. My doors are open 24/7. I don’t think I have neglected any officer by ranking or any other ways. Even if you are the lowest rank in the command as long as you are human it belongs on me as the boss to give such person a listen ears because we are all human beings, it is just societal that matters, but for me, that does not matter , it has been my nature, it is in me and that is while my men are happy with me, though I am not saying everybody should be happy with me because it is not practically possible but if you have majority been happy with you, it becomes generally that people are happy with your style of administration. The same goes to the members of the public out there, when they come to my office, I take my time listening to them, if it is the one that will provide solutions to their problems, we keep on discussing until we were able to discuss and arrived at reasonable conclusion and the man feels happy that will also gladdens my heart. So in a null shell, in my style of leadership, I enjoyed making people happy and of course adding values to their lives.

We have been following your success stories from Rivers State as ACP Operation, DCP Operation under three CP’s in the commercial nerve center of the country. Sir let talk about your achievements as the commissioner of police Delta State?

As the commissioner of police Delta State, I have lots of success stories to tell and am sure those of you out there that are the societal watch-dogs talking about the journalist, you must have been reading a lots about my success stories since assumption of duties/power in this state as the man that is the helm of the affairs of the police from 13th of January 2021 to today 15th September 2022, so much has been done, a lots has been achieved and of course I want to say enormously Delta State today is proud to have me as the Commissioner of Police . When you talk about crime rate in the whole of South-South Geographical Zone and of course by extension South-East here, I made bold apply that Delta State to be the safest State today in these two Geographical Zone. All the events from that of the Army, NUPENG, Maritime Industries and a lot of others are being organized. People see Delta State today as an economic hub because business can only tie under the atmosphere of peace and because there is peace in Delta State relatively people take delight in coming in not just to do business but at least un rendezvous to come and rest and enjoy their stay, at the end of the day, they go back safely and peacefully without been hurt or attacked in anyway.

Statistically, some of the things I have achieved coming to Delta State, when you talk about the number of Arm robbery suspects we have arrested so far and of course the number of robbery incidents that have taken place so far, statistically kidnapping , cultism and others vice

• We have total number of three hundred and fifty (350,000) arms of various types and calibers that has been recovered so far
• Total Number of twelve thousand five hundred and eighteen (12,518)rounds of ammunition inclusive cartridges that has been recovered so far
• We talk about the number of suspect arrested, that of the arm robbery suspects we have three hundred and forty eight( 348)
• For the kidnapping, we have one hundred and twenty three (123)
• For the cultism, we have Nine hundred and ten cultists (910) that have been so far be arrested.
• Formurder suspect, we have one hundred and eight (108)
• For kidnapping , we have so far rescued a total number of one hundred and thirty (130) persons of victims of kidnapping
• Vehicles recovered from various crimes that have taking place in Delta State, we have recovered two hundred and fifty one (251) vehicles
• For Improvise Explosive Device IED, we have successfully recovered fourteen (14) and that has since been detonated. Those are my recoveries and of course by extension , my success stories is in Delta State, today by the special grace of God and of the will of man, Delta State is safe haven for people to come and seat down, relax, enjoy themselves and do their businesses unchallenged.

For every success stories, there are challenges. Please can you highlight your challenges with us?

One major challenge I have in this state is that of personnel. We have serious shortage of man power in such that we cannot meet up with the demands by the public. We have shortage of patrol vehicles as logistics is a problem, we also have problem of shortage of accommodation for our officers and men. People are happier when they have good accommodation to lives so that when they are tired, they go home to wine their selves and resume the following day but in this state, Accommodation is a huge problem. Financial problem is a generalian. Shortage of funds to be able to execute the programs that have plotted or the command has set for itself and for us to meet up some of the financial obligations.

And how have you been able to overcome these challenges?

Well, to God be the glory, I want to first and foremost appreciate my Inspector General of Police IGP Usman Akali Baba npm ,MPC Pac Daga for creating that enabling environment by giving us the necessary supports that we need as police officers and as a command under his leadership. I want to commend the efforts of my amiable and workaholic Governor, Senator Dr Ifeany Arthur Okowa , the vice presidential candidate of PDP who in his on tireless effort to has been very supportive to the command and without it, I don’t think the command could be able to move ahead today so I must say, I appreciate his leadership. I want to also appreciate the officers and men of the command that have also been working tirelessly to ensure that this command achieve the needed peace that we have achieved so far and last but not the list, is to appreciate Deltans in general who has been supporting, cooperating and very assisting in all ramifications as far as police in Delta State is concern. They are very wonderful out there and I must profoundly appreciate all of them.

You made mentioning of inadequate personnel, logistics, shortage of funds and others as part of the challenges encountering, Now we are using Okpanam Police Division as a case study of inadequate logistics and funds. So what major could you put in place to address the issues of the above mentioned challenges in other to ensure that your men responds swiftly to distress calls ?

Okpanam police Division in a satellite Division, what I tried to do is to question or mitigate the crises situation they have over there, to intervene regularly from the command headquarter here, sending men there to assist them because there is no Division that have adequate manpower. All Divisions are barely managing because of acute shortage of man power. The only way we can assist them is to cope with the rudiment of policing over there, to intervening by way of sending patrol team and manpower to be assisting them. On daily basis. If you go to Okpanam, every evening we have an Amo-personal carrier over there since they are tag and has always been there ensuring that we did not have a repeat of what happened last 2months and that has been on until further notice and that alone will also enough to signals the men of the world that the police is not taking things for granted, then it comes to managing police station out there because of their strategic location which is totally off the command and gateway to Edo state and that is why we take it as a responsibility to ensure that we mar that place the way we are suppose to mar it.

I have observed that since your assumption of office as the Commissioner of Police Delta State, the incessant attack by hoodlums on police men particularly in Asaba metropolis and having introduce a vista in the narrative of tackling the menace of arm robbery, kidnapping, vehicle snatching and of course cultism and street gangsterism in Delta State all has been reduce to the barest minimum. What is the magic?

The magic is God and I couldn’t have done it without the support of God who has been with us. We are putting in our best, but God almighty also has a hand in it and of course my adoption of community policing system as a strategic to fight crime added an impetus to what we are seeing. Synergy with other security services; the Army, Navy, NSCDC, Air force, Immigration, Customs and others. We are all in the business of crime fighting together and every week Mondays we go out there to showcase our show of strength because of our brothers from the South East that normally undergoes seat-at home directives every week Mondays so am trying to let the public know that Delta State is one state that you cannot come in to do that rubbish and therefore you can agree with me that the crime rate in the State has been brought down to that manageable tolerable level that everybody can say yes this state is really on top of it game and of course other number of strategist put in place, pro-active policing not been reactive waiting for an incident to happen before we go out there, as I speak to you, we go out there, you see my men everywhere with our patrol vehicles conducting stop-and-search, visibility policing, intelligent learn policing, cultivation of informants, so without them, we couldn’t do it. We have to cultivate the informants that will give us information intelligent about crime and criminalities, taking the word to them even before they think of coming out, we are already there and that is the magic.

Sir, you made mentioning of cultivating informants that gives out information intelligent about crime and criminalities. So is it ethical for a police officer to divulge his source of information?

Any police man that does that is highly unprofessional and is not worthy of being a police officer. So it is unethical for a police man to divulge his source of information. All your sources of information must be treated with utmost confidentiality. If you divulged an information, you are killing yourself and of course killing the job because you can’t progress.

We know discipline is the bed rock of the Nigeria Police Force, how have you been able to tackle indiscipline amongst your men?

You are aware that Police Force is a discipline organization and it is discipline that has been able to keep the Force up till date. Here, we have a quite number of measures that we put in place for every Police Officer and every Policeman. If you commit a crime/offense as a serving Police man, the books are there that clearly define what your punishment should be. We have the Office of the Provost Marshall that ties people in orderly room, we have the X-Squard that’s there, that goes out there to checkmate the essences of our Policemen on the road and that is the only way we can instill discipline amongst our officers and men. As for the senior officers, when you commit, we issue you quarry and when we issue you quarry, we bankroll your quarry to Abuja, from Abuja to Police Service Commission (PSC) were you answer your charges there and if they found one thing that they can’t manage it, they show you the way out and that is while when you can see an organization that’s discipline everybody is doing rightly well and the way it should be lawfully.

Are you getting support from the Delta State Government?

Of course, wonderful support, like I eelier said that I appreciate and feel happy working with my Governor Sen. Dr Ifeany Okowa because of what he has been doing for us, the command under my leadership and under his administration is doing well because we are enjoying his support and has donated vehicles, he has giving us Armor personnel carrier (APC) there is nothing we look for that he does not do. We just recently apply for him to help us put some of our broken down vehicles on the road taking it complaisant in facts that electro-nearing campaigns are fast approaching; we need most of these vehicles to be on the road so that we can be able to cope with the deployment of police men to various campaign arenas and he bought through it. For supports, the state Government is doing wonderfully very well.

2023 election is just around the corner and aspirants are to start campaigning soon , so what measure are you going to put in place to ensure that there will be no violent clashes amongst the supporters of the various political parties in the state?

Of course there are so many measures that we have already kick-started, one of such measures is holding meetings with all these human right organizations, political activist who will help us go out there to advocate the need for peace among the youths, also my Public Relation Officer of the Command(PPRO) DSP Bright Edafe has been carrying out sensitization lectures with youths at different forum, the command is also organizing symposium on the conduct of free and fair election as far as security is concerned which is basically our business to ensure that we lectured them and inform them the way out as it concerns us in other to ensure that the forth coming election which is about to start with the campaign is done in an orderly manner devoid of any rancor or political thuggery because these are some of the things that brings crises everywhere. Some weeks ago, I had lectures with all my Divisional Police Officers (DPO’s) as a measure to appraise them and avail their mind on the need for them to provide adequate security to all political rallies whichever party, any one, weather they apply for us to provide them security or not, I told them they must provide security. When I see people gathering for political reason, I ensure that my men are there. Let them nosedive and know what is going on there. Weather there is application or no application; it is our duty. Basically these are some of the measures proactively put in place to ensure that the forth coming election in this state is conducted under the atmosphere of peace.

Few people in the society usually complain a lot about police job, so do you have any regrets at all?

There is no organization that is free from any attack but for me, joining the Police Force is a dream come through. I have no regret for whatever reason in joining the Police. When I seat down to X-ray my journey from 1990 when I joined the Police Job till Date, I feel fulfilled, happy and of course without any atom of regrets.

I have heard lots of prayers said for you, at the end of the day, what would you want to be remembered for?

There are so many things that people will remember me for. I am a dulgent crime fighter that is highly operational as I remembered my days as an Assistant Commissioner of Police Operation Department in port Harcourt, I also remember my days as Deputy Commissioner of Police for three and half years in Lagos State. One very important thing that people should remember me also is that of my simplicity and of course my open door policing nature to all the members of the public and also to my police men. These are the things I want people to remember me with and above all, I am God fearing.