In the run-up to the just concluded general elections, the biggest worry troubling the minds of residents of Kano State was about the army of thugs parading the state.
Young, armed, under the influence of drugs and hired by powerful politicians, the thugs maintained a menacing presence and ruled the nooks and crannies of the city, often clashing with opposing gangs working for political opponents and leaving behind, death and destruction.
As their activities continued unchecked, the state witnessed what its residents likened to a throwback to the days when parts of Kano were partitioned among rival thug groups whose deadly encounters were the order of the day.
Residents recalled how in those years, a rutted road could serve as a boundary separating turfs belonging to opposing gangs and how so many people were killed or maimed for being on the wrong side of the divide.
As the polls approached, the memories did not just haunt them, they became the new reality. Thug violence, maiming of opponents, destruction of posters, snatching of mobile phones and harassing of residents increased. Inciting comments by political actors at campaigns further heightened fears.
Thugs suspected to be aligned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main challenger to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and seeking to wrest the governorship seat from it, attacked the residence of the state’s APC chairman, allegedly injuring his son, and in retaliation, thugs believed to be working for the APC torched the home of the PDP governorship candidate’s mother. The attacks further raised the stakes.
The leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who anointed Abba Kabir Yusuf, the PDP governorship candidate, threatened that to lead an invasion of the State Government House and sieze the governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
In turn, Abdullahi Abbas, the state APC chairman, threatened to take violence to Senator Kwankwaso.
As the two sides kept firing across the bow, residents feared about going out to vote on election day as unmistaken air of violence gripped the state.
It was into this melee that Muhammad Wakili was thrown as new Police Commissioner for Kano State.
Immediately he took over, he set for himself a two-point agenda: To fight against drug abuse and thuggery, popularly known as daba.
His logic for targeting the two vices was harped on the belief that if he succeeded in weeding them out, fight against other crimes would be easier for the police and other security agencies.
Wakili strongly believes that drug abuse and thuggery were the causative agents of other crimes, not only in Kano but in the entire northern states.
His commitment and passion to the implementation of his two-point agenda started yielding results in Kano within the very short time, as within the span of 10 days, the police under him arrested 1,700 drug addicts, dealers and members of different thug gangs.
Clips and pictures of heaps of dangerous weapons recovered during the raid became the major point of discussion among many Nigerians after they hit television screens and newspapers the following day.
With this feat, the CP made the bold announcement that a new Sheriff was in town, and residents, happy with his actions, gave him the moniker, Singham, after an honest police officer that was loved by members of his community who starred in a 2011 Indian action film of the same title.
The Kano Singham did not stop at arresting the suspects, he ensured that they were prosecuted in courts and convicted.
This single action of CP Wakili played a greater role in making the presidential poll peaceful in Kano, residents attested.
Also on the eve of the election, the police commissioner ordered for another round of special raids to criminal hideouts, where dozens of thugs and drug addicts were arrested.
The commissioner did not limit his job to only arresting and convicting criminals, he also put in place, measures and strategies for managing crisis during election.
For instance, he set up a strong election monitoring team under his supervision to ensure peaceful election in the state. The CP mapped out all flashpoints in the state metropolis and deployed police there as preventive measures against political crisis.
Also, to ensure effective monitoring, Singham tasked himself with visiting any place where there was a politically related problem.
Singham begun with Kofa village in Bebeji Local Government Area, where supporters of the PDP and APC clashed, resulting in the death of two people and destruction of over 40 cars.
While assessing the destruction, the CP arrested a member of the House of Representatives for Kiru/Bebeji federal constituency, Alhaji Abdulmumini Jibril Kofa, who was accused of being responsible for the clash.
The Rep was later released on bail after questioning at the state command’s Criminal investigation Department (CID).
Observers interpreted that arrest to be the major move that showed his non-partisan and professional posture as a police boss and predicted how it was going to impact positively on the duties of men under him. They said that with him, one would break the law at one’s own risk, regardless of status or class.
Singham proved that assertion to be true about him when men under his watch arrested the Deputy Governor of Kano State, Dr Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Murtala Sule Garo and chairman of Nassarawa Local Government, Alhaji Lamin Sani, for allegedly destroying result sheets during the collation of local government results for the governorship and state Assembly elections in Kano.
Earlier during the presidential election, CP Wakili ensured not only the deployment of policemen to the polling units, but also their arrival to their respective duty posts in time. He did not sit in his office to monitor the election, rather he led other members of his team to various places, especially places where problems were reported.
For instance, in Tarauni Local Government, thugs stormed a polling unit and destroyed ballot boxes, resulting in disagreement among the political parties’ agents on whether the ballot papers of the affected boxes could be included in the counting or not.
After a heated debate among the agents, the CP was informed about the development and he quickly rushed to the polling unit. He addressed the agents on arrival, and suggested that since only ballot boxes were destroyed and that all parties’ agents believed that the ballot papers were intact, they should be counted in the presence of all the agents.
They welcomed the idea and Wakili stayed there till the end of the count and everybody was happy with his wisdom.
The commissioner was also at Nassarawa Local Government collation centre when a misunderstanding among agents of political parties broke out. There too, he suggested a way out that worked.
The hero of 2019 general elections, as some people call him, was also at Gwale Local Government Area when the area witnessed a political crisis that led to the attack on the son of Alhaji Abbas, the APC state chairman and three others.
In police circles, Wakili is equally loved and respected.
A policeman, who does not want his name in print, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the CP was an exceptional cop that is concerned about the job and those committed to it.
“I have been in the Kano State police command for several years, but I can tell you that of all the CPs I worked with, Wakili is the best. He is the best, not because he has passion for the job, but because of his concern for the rank and file class of the police, who are the majority.
“The man came with a simple but good idea that will encourage the rank and file to do their job with passion and commitment. You can see him visiting our offices, interacting with the rank and file to know their problems. If you have a problem and you are lucky it is within his powers, Wallahi would address it once and for all.
“He has made this exercise of visiting offices a routine duty for himself, and we are very happy with this method because it helps us a lot. If not through this, it will be difficult for a rank and file policeman to have access to him, not to talk of lodging a complaint.
“Another very important strategy Wakili adopted is relieving the rank and file policemen to go to their respective homes by 6:30pm daily. It was not like that.’’
Wakili’s battle with rapists, drug abuse in Katsina
During his stay as the Commissioner of Police in Katsina, Wakili, it was said, left no one in doubt about his unique style of policing.
The CP achieved recorded successes in fighting drug abuse and prosecution of rape cases.
He equally carried out several outreach programmes to schools and held pet talks with students and peer groups on drugs. This sensitization programmes took him to many schools across the state.
His concern for the juvenile, especially as they become victims of rape, was said to be unprecedented. He relocated the command’s department of juvenile welfare center (JWC) to his office and made sure all rape cases were pursued to their logical conclusion.
The spokesman of the command, SP Gambo Isah said, Wakili was a man of impeccable character, jovial, firm and a true gentleman.
“He ran an open-door policy and directed that no one should be barred from seeing him.
He is very passionate about drugs and child abuse cases and would pursue then to the later,” he said, adding that his war against drugs was holistic and led to scarcity of codeine in the state which equally forced its price to fall because of limited supply.
“Wakili was the CP that even on his transfer day was busy ensuring that ongoing renovation and repairs at the Katsina command did not suffer.
“Wakili renovated virtually all our offices, conference halls, the CP’s office and even the Divisional offices got some refurbishment,” he said.
His simplicity and lack of protocols, he added, endeared him to so many people irrespective of class and status.
