Ex-IG Okiro: FG’s Decision to Scrap Anti-Terror Squad Birthed Boko Haram Insurgency

Ex-IG Okiro: FG’s Decision to Scrap Anti-Terror Squad Birthed Boko Haram Insurgency

• The former police chief, who turned 77 last week, says he had monitored Mohammed Yusuf and arrested him multiple times before the sect struck in 2009

Former Inspector-General of Police, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro, has blamed the Federal Government’s decision to dismantle the Police Anti-Terrorist Squad shortly after his retirement in 2009 for the emergence and spread of the Boko Haram insurgency, describing the move as a costly policy error that denied Nigeria the opportunity to stop terrorism before it escalated into a national crisis.

Okiro, who served as IGP between June 1, 2007, and July 24, 2009, and recently marked his 77th birthday, made this revelation in an interview. He said the anti-terrorism unit he established in November 2007 was abandoned following criticism from some quarters, leaving the country vulnerable to the insurgency that erupted weeks after his retirement.

The former police chief, who also served as Chairman of the Police Service Commission from May 2013 to April 2018, said the Anti-Terrorist Squad was created to detect and neutralise emerging terrorist threats. He disclosed that officers of the squad were trained in Israel, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa, countries with known histories of combating terrorism.

Okiro recalled that he had trained the squad operationally to reduce costs and also established a Police Anti-Terrorist Squad Training School in Rivers State, where experts from outside were brought in to teach operatives. He expressed regret that the school no longer exists.

The former IGP said opposition to the initiative came from individuals who falsely alleged that the squad was designed to target members of a particular religion. He recalled that some newspapers wrote editorials against the initiative, arguing at the time that terrorism was not a threat in Nigeria.

“Some people came up and alleged that Okiro has created the anti-terrorist squad to gather members of a particular religion and shoot them as terrorists. Two newspapers wrote editorials on that, claiming there is no terrorism in Nigeria, that I created ATS to give Nigeria a bad name to the outside world,” Okiro said.

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He explained that despite publicly defending the initiative, the Federal Government declined to approve funds required to equip the squad with operational vehicles, communication gadgets and other logistics. However, he still deployed units to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Maiduguri, but some state governors requested the withdrawal of the operatives from their states.

“I retired July 24, 2009. By August to September, Boko Haram had struck in Maiduguri. Since then Nigeria has known no peace. If government had insisted on the ATS and equipped it, the story would have been different today,” Okiro said.

The former police boss disclosed that security agencies had been monitoring Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf before the insurgency erupted, adding that he personally arrested him multiple times.

“I monitored Mohammed Yusuf from Yobe to Maiduguri. I arrested him a couple of times. If government had taken action then, the story would have been different. It is late now. They have spread all over Nigeria,” he stated.

Okiro lamented that Nigeria has not made significant progress in addressing insecurity, stressing that the problem has been with the nation for decades. He cited his experience as Commissioner of Police in Lagos when the Oodua People’s Congress had taken over security because the police had failed.

“We are not making progress. The situation had been bad right from time. We are all Nigerians, let us face facts. The situation has been like this, likewise the economic situation,” Okiro said.

He attributed persistent security challenges to inadequate funding, poor manpower, and obsolete equipment across security agencies. According to him, the police, as the lead agency for internal security, cannot effectively combat crime without modern surveillance technology, reliable communication systems, drones, and other advanced security infrastructure.

“The agencies should be well funded, have manpower, have equipment. The world is so advanced now that you can send drones to fight crime and insecurity, it’s no longer physical security like we have in those days. Nigerians are very intelligent. If they are given what they require they will excel,” he said.

On the 2027 general elections, Okiro urged security agencies to remain neutral and avoid partisanship, warning that interference in the electoral process beyond maintaining law and order could undermine the credibility of the polls.

Reflecting on his policing career, the 77-year-old former Inspector-General recounted how he prevented a violent attack on a son of the late Head of State General Sani Abacha during a high-profile court appearance in Lagos by secretly relocating the trial venue from Igbosere to Ikeja. He described the strategy as one of the defining moments of his career. At the time, the OPC had gathered at Igbosere with cutlasses, sticks, broken bottles and jerry cans of petrol, vowing to kill Abacha’s son.

Okiro, who holds a law degree, also narrated how he reluctantly joined the police after hating the profession as a student union leader at the University of Ibadan. He said he picked the police from six job offers after praying to God for guidance. His father, who wanted him to join the Rivers State Civil Service, initially opposed his decision but later prayed for him.

Ex-IG Okiro: FG’s Decision to Scrap Anti-Terror Squad Birthed Boko Haram Insurgency

The Sun