I am curious about  what informed your going into the Police Service…
As young man of 19 years, I needed a job; I had actually wanted to go further in my education, then at that time, most of my contemporaries were going to do “A” levels (Advanced level studies). I actually got admission to do “A” Levels but I lacked financial support. My late father’s business situation had deteriorated so badly, even his health started failing. Though he later recovered and lived up to 87 years before he finally passed on.  At that particular time, we always had challenges, I’ve always believed in working for myself, working hard, even as a young man, I had a clear idea of what I wanted to become. I wasn’t scared of venturing out so I got tired of staying back in the village. I lived in the village until I was 19 and there was nothing more for me to do, because everything, every assignment, every activity in the community, I had become part of them. At that stage, I thought, if I couldn’t do my “A” levels because of those challenges, then I’d better got a job, so I started a farm with my Dad supporting in my village to raise funds for my education. But then I also decided that I was going to look for any available job; I went for Naval recruitment, I probably would have ended up as a Naval Officer. I really love the white uniform of the Navy, but somehow that didn’t quite work out and while waiting for the result, I also went for Police recruitment. They told me that my five credits were good enough for Cadet Inspectorate, but they were not doing Inspectorate recruitment at that time. They asked if I was willing to be recruited as a Police Constable, I said why not? And so we took the examination, I think in the whole of the then River State, I came first.
They announced the result while I was still busy pursuing naval recruitment, I didn’t hear it. It was the Naval Commander who heard it on radio because he took interest in me too. This lanky young man who looks very serious, he was so much interested in me, so he told me he heard my name and I went to the Police headquarters. In those days things were done quite decently; he told me they had been looking for me because I came first and they had been announcing my name but I had no access to a radio where I was staying and they now put me up in the next batch. I was delighted and excited; this was an adventure for me and also a means of livelihood. That’s how my journey in the Police started; I went for training at Oji River, passed out as a Constable and subsequently I was posted to the busiest Police station in Port Harcourt where I started life as Beat Duty Constable. Later my officers identified me and thought that I was an Officer material, but also they wanted me to do some clerical duties; because they felt I could write well, besides, I could do effective administration with little support and supervision. Therefore, at that young age, I became a Station Officer’s clerk or orderly which meant that I had to be responsible for supporting the Station Officer who himself had the duty of administering the Station but I was a Clerk. We were paying salaries of Policemen and everybody, posting people who were in charge of initiating indiscipline and all of that. I was thrown into all of that at an early age, I stayed there and did my work almost without supervision, because they were very comfortable with whatever I did and they trusted my judgment. I think that also gave me a lot of training, training in terms of dedication to duty in terms of self discipline and in terms of understanding what service to our nation really means.
I did all of that and also wrote JAMB (Joint Admission and Matriculation Board) examination, I took evening classes to prepare for the examination, sat for the examination and on merit I passed to study Law on full-time basis. Again, my bosses at the time intervened to give me support; they prevented me from resigning, so I was on night duty throughout my undergraduate days to enable me run my full-time Law degree programme.
Would you agree with me that it was economic reasons that got you to join the Police Force
Oh! Yes, economic reasons. As a young man, I wanted to take responsibility for my life and my future and the Police gave me the opportunity which I was looking for. For this, I remain grateful; I tell people that I remain a Policeman till my last day.
Were you also exposed to those things that Policemen in Nigeria are associated with?
Well, I had a policy, not just my own policy; God designed it that way that within a very short time, I had the responsibility of actually posting people to perform duties instead of being posted.  But as a Police Constable there were times I was drafted out to perform special duties, on traffic duties, all kinds of Police duties, to that extent, yes, but not for too long. I did investigation, because my senior officers trusted me, I prosecuted cases, again, because they trusted me. All in all, I found the Police to be an excellent training ground. As a matter of fact, if I were to start my life all over again, I would desire some elements of Police exposure.
Can you explain the training you referred to earlier? What kind of training do you have in mind when you said the Police exposed you to training?  
The Police trains you to understand your society; it trains you to understand human beings better. You know the dimensions of human personality better, most police officers don’t know this until they leave the force that their experiences are so valuable and could actually give them a head start in whatever they may want to do outside of service.  But while they are there, they are like people caged in the bottle, they think service in the Police is all there is to life. Once they leave, if they could only apply their experiences, they will be better off in every other thing they do, whether in business or in politics or in whatever endeavour they choose.
Now, for you to have got to where you are, there must have been certain principles and values that you hold very dear, you don’t just do things anyhow. Can you isolate few of these principles that have guided you this far?
I was raised by my parents to respect our family traditions of honour, courage, integrity, loyalty, hard work and also prudence in the management of finances.  My late father, even at his death bed from the support that I and other of his children could give him once in a while, saved over N200,000  and gave it to one of my sisters to give to me as contribution for his burial. That should tell you the training we had in terms of respect for people’s properties; respect also for finance. He was a man with such tremendous discipline that people in the community would bring their money to him for safe keep. Even at a very early age, he brought me up to be part of that and to respect money as a visitor not as an end that should be handled with care and respect.
I was raised also to say NO when NO is the right answer and I saw a lot of that in my late Dad. This virtue actually runs in my family even his father before him, they need to be convinced, we do things out of conviction not out of fashion, not following the crowd not doing something because other people around are doing it. I saw my father take that kind of decision in small matters; in big issue I saw him weather the storm. I saw him vindicated over and over again. I was very close to him and I also know the history of my family, how our ancestors were men of courage and honour. My father did work hard, at times, he would lack something and no one would know, people around him would think he was self-sufficient; he would manage and keep his dignity, that is one virtue I cherish so much and which I am also trying to impart to my children. I am trying in my own little way to impart this virtue of hard work, of honesty, of service, of integrity and of courage without which every other virtue fades into irrelevance.  Integrity, in particular, which is the salt of human character must be protected; when it is lost, everything is lost.
How would you describe the high level defection from PDP to APC being witnessed in the state? Are you not disturbed?
Let me ask you: would you have any regard for an individual who cannot be trusted to be loyal to the person or a cause he believes in. You should not take such an individual seriously . What that simply means is that they were not part of us really ; they were just looking for what to do to fill up their stomachs. I have little regards for people who behave like cameleons; you cannot commit the governance of state to such individuals.

– Courtesy: THISDAY