THE testimony being given by former Police Commissioner Owen Ellington at the Tivoli Gardens Commission of Enquiry is quite revealing.

In fact, we find one aspect of what he has so far disclosed to be extremely chilling.

On Monday this week, Mr Ellington told of a conversation he had with Rev Al Miller, whom he had asked to try to convince then Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke — who was wanted by the United States Government — to surrender to the authorities.

According to Mr Ellington, two days after he made the request, Mr Miller returned and told him: “I saw the man and the man say to me that if it was the PNP in power they would know how to deal with it. Tell Bruce Golding to find a way to deal with it. I’m not going anywhere, and if him a come fi mi, him haffi come good.”

Mr Ellington told the enquiry that he had also asked then Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair to speak with Coke about a peaceful surrender, but Coke told the bishop that he would not be surrendering.

According to the former police commissioner, Mr Blair said he has had dealings with the military but had never seen so many rifles in his life as he saw in Tivoli Gardens. He then told Mr Ellington that he would be praying for him and the other members of the police force as it was apparently obvious to the clergyman that the security forces would be left no choice but to enter Tivoli Gardens — which was heavily barricaded — to arrest Coke.

We really were not surprised by Bishop Blair’s observation, as Jamaica had long heard of the massive armoury in Tivoli, regardless of attempts by people with an interest in the community to paint another picture.

What has concerned us, however, was the reported message sent by Coke to Mr Golding, who was prime minister at the time.

That a man who was wanted for serious crimes could have sent such a brazen, defiant message to the head of government suggested that he saw himself as untouchable — someone who had heavy support in firepower.

We shudder to think what would have happened to Jamaica had the security forces failed to dismantle what was clearly an empire being run by Coke that, for decades, operated outside of the laws governing this country, and which benefited from political protection.

We have argued in this space before that the commission of enquiry is necessary for the country to determine what happened in May 2010 in order that we do not find ourselves in a similar position again.

What is also absolutely clear from what Mr Ellington has told us is that the country cannot allow the creation of another community that operates as a state within the Jamaican State.

Any attempt to create that kind of social and political order should be crushed before it can take root. As the language of the streets would say: “Memba mi told yuh!” or, put another way, we have been warned!