INTERVIEW: I Was Denied Promotions For Resisting ‘Bad Things’ — Police Prosecutor Exposes ‘Satanic’ Happenings In Force

Dr. Joseph Nwadike, a Chief Superintendent of Police, is a lawyer working in the legal department of the Nigeria Police Force.

He is a legal representative of the Inspector General of Police in several court cases and has more than a decade of experience in criminal litigation.

In this interview with THE WHISTLER, he shares his thoughts on challenges facing the police and how he combines his roles as a prosecutor and founder of Jesus Testimony Church, Abuja.

Excerpts:

What Are Common Challenges You Face In Prosecuting Cases On Behalf Of The Police?

I’ve suffered untold persecutions and have been denied promotions because I refused to do bad things. That is the bane of this country. The people who want to do good are being persecuted and branded names and the people doing evil are celebrated.

For instance, they (police authorities) may want you to charge an innocent person and you say no; this guy has not committed an offense from the facts before me but they will say they want me to charge him in court.

Then when you refuse, they will collect the case file from you and give it to somebody who will do their bidding.

Then, if you are prosecuting somebody who is guilty and they (police authorities ) want you to free the person, you will insist the person committed an offense but they will ask you to drop the charge.

If you refuse to drop the charge, they will punish you by punitive transfer, that is, posting you out of your place of assignment. So, you cannot have access to that case file or they can originate a signal and command you to come with the case file for an interview and it will be collected from you. So these are the challenges I have faced.

I tell you that when I was Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), the past Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali was a Chief Superintendent of Police, but he rose to the rank of IG and I still remained as the CSP.

What Is Your Position Regarding Prolonged Detention Of Suspects By Police?

It is evil, satanic, and demonic. They (police) may just use detention to punish the innocent or detain the suspect to agree to what he or she did not do.

I keep saying that we are investigators and you are saying that this suspect did not commit any offense but because someone has paid them, they go and receive a court order to put the suspect behind bars or use its administrative powers to detain someone without a court order.

We have a situation where somebody has been detained for three years. One of their (police authorities) problems is that they don’t apply moral reasoning.

For instance, I had a case on my table where a young man collected an N20 million loan from First Bank, and all of a sudden, that loan began to deplete and about N 5 million was removed from his (bank account) and he found out that N5 million had gone from his account when he has not used the loan.

He finally went to another branch of the bank and obtained a statement of account and discovered that they had used his account to launder over N5 billion; who paid the money, nobody knew.

This means it was money hacked (sic) from people’s bank accounts and probably Yahoo, which means even if the prosecution decides to trace the money in ten years, this young man would go to prison.

The matter came before me but I advised that the bank account officer, the bank, and those who paid money into the bank account must be charged to court and I framed a charge and filed against them.

The officials came to bribe me with 5,000 dollars but I refused, telling them to go and apologize to the young man but they wanted to collect the case file from me and we fought this battle till we got to the current IG; as I speak with you, that matter is still lingering.

They have collected the case file but they could not stop the proceedings, the case is just hanging in the air. These are the ugly experiences.

As A Church Founder, What Has Been Your Experience Running A Church?

The church is a calling. What God has called me to do and I am fulfilling that calling.

My calling as a clergy is to preach the gospel and make people understand that hellfire is real and then show them the good path and how to live a godly life.

Any Challenge Faced As A Church Founder?

Yes, in fact, I have faced open persecution; I have been stoned on a crusade ground for preaching Jesus. Also, a particular group who felt my ministry was overwhelming theirs, have attacked me before.

You see, not all clerics are true clerics, some are for their belly while others are for the souls of men.

Those that are in the Ministry for their belly will see it as a business or do or die and if they see another church trying to rise, they will fight that church as if it wants to take over their business empire.