Sometimes, a career can be measured not only by the office a man eventually occupies but by the lives he touches long before he gets there.
For Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu, the journey to the highest professional office in the Nigeria Police Force has taken him from the corridors of Ago-Iwoye Police Division to the very top of Nigeria’s policing hierarchy.
When he recently returned to the Ago-Iwoye Police Division, the place where he served as a young Divisional Police Officer, he was not merely returning to a police station.
He was returning to where a significant chapter of his story began.
I commend the IGP for that decision.
For some people, the past is something to escape from. For others, it is a place to return to with gratitude, reflection, and humility.
Disu’s return to Ago-Iwoye brought back memories for me personally, memories that date back to my days as a student of the then Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye
At the time, I knew him simply as “Egbon Tunji.”
I was a student. He was the DPO.
But to many of us who encountered him during those turbulent years, he was much more than a police officer occupying an office.
He was a man who understood the delicate relationship between the police and students.
He knew when to enforce the law, when to caution, when to listen, and, perhaps most importantly, when to advise.
WHEN AGO-IWOYE AND ORU ALMOST TURNED DEADLY
One particular episode remains permanently etched in my memory.
During a community fracas involving students and some Oru indigenes, tensions became dangerously high, and what started as a dispute threatened to spiral into something far more devastating.
I was there, so was Disu, at Itamerin Junction, as students from Ago-Iwoye were moving towards Oru, Disu was present and from my recollection, provided police support to ensure that the situation did not degenerate into uncontrollable violence, that evening, my own life was almost changed forever, a stray bullet entered my eye but I survived, that, however, is a story for another day.
What I remember most about Disu from that period was not simply the uniform, the authority, or the police convoy. It was his approach.
He understood that students were not enemies of the state. They were young Nigerians whose emotions could easily be inflamed, but whose future could equally be destroyed by one reckless decision.
He therefore tried to make us understand that we were our brothers’ keepers.
THE DPO WHO WAS CALLED “EGBON TUNJI”
I called him Egbon Tunji because that was how many of us related to him. He was firm, but he was not a bully.
He could be authoritative without humiliating people.
He would advise you about the consequences of your actions and remind you that the future was bigger than whatever confrontation was taking place at that moment.
Looking back today, I believe that was one of the qualities that distinguished him.
As a young police officer commanding a sensitive university community, he appeared to understand that policing was not merely about making arrests.
It was also about conflict prevention, community engagement, and protecting young people from decisions that could permanently derail their lives.
From my experience at the time, Disu’s tenure as DPO in Ago-Iwoye was relatively calm when compared with some of the periods that followed, particularly in relation to cult-related clashes and student unrest.
For those of us who lived through that period, that mattered.
HE NEVER KNEW I REMEMBERED
Interestingly, I never reminded him of these Ago-Iwoye experiences.
Even when he later became the boss of the Rapid Response Squad in Lagos, we crossed paths and interacted, but I never brought up those university days.
Perhaps he had forgotten, I had not.
There were even occasions when he asked his boys to look for me.
The first was connected to the incident in which the stray bullet entered my eye.
The second came after an entirely different episode involving my stolen phone.
In that incident, while desperately searching for the phone, I ended up damaging three doors and was subsequently facing a malicious-damage allegation.
When I eventually discovered that phone, I ran to Lagos.
On my return, I came with the late CSP Silifat Momoh, the mother of a friend of mine, who intervened to help resolve the matter.
These may sound like small episodes in the enormous journey of a man who would eventually become Inspector-General of Police, but sometimes, history is best understood through the small moments.
“I KNEW HE WOULD GO PLACES”
I have always believed that Olatunji Disu would go places, even as a young DPO in Ago-Iwoye. There was something about his disposition that suggested he was not going to remain ordinary. He carried himself as a man who understood responsibility.
Today, that young officer who once commanded a police division in Ago-Iwoye sits at the pinnacle of Nigeria’s police institution and now that he has returned to the place where his journey began, I believe Nigerians should pause and appreciate the symbolism.
From Ago-Iwoye to Force Headquarters.
From commanding students and residents in a university town to commanding one of Africa’s largest police institutions.
From being “Egbon Tunji” to becoming Inspector-General Disu.
That is not merely a career progression.
It is a story about time, experience, resilience, leadership, and destiny.
A JOURNEY WORTH REMEMBERING
I congratulate the IGP on returning to Ago-Iwoye.
I also salute the memory and service of the late CP Bolaji Odesanya and the present commissioner of police in Ogun State, whose contributions to the Nigeria Police Force I have always respect
For me, however, the significance of Disu’s return goes beyond nostalgia, It is a reminder that those who occupy powerful offices today once stood somewhere else, learning, making decisions, confronting challenges and earning the respect of the people around them.
Ago-Iwoye was one of Disu’s early proving grounds, and for those of us who were there, we saw the young officer before the stars, and the office came.
I saw “Egbon Tunji.”
I saw a police officer who could engage students.
I saw a man who could stand in the middle of a volatile situation and attempt to prevent it from becoming a catastrophe.
I saw someone who believed that young people still had futures worth protecting.
Today, Nigeria sees the Inspector-General of Police but Ago-Iwoye remembers the DPO, and perhaps that is the most powerful part of this homecoming.
The office may change. The rank may rise. The responsibilities may become enormous. But every great journey has a place where it started.
For IGP Olatunji Disu, that place is Ago-Iwoye, and for some of us who were there, his return is not just history. It is personal.
~ Ayo Mojoyin writes.
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