PORT HARCOURT — GOVERNOR Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State, yesterday, accused the state Police Commissioner, Mr Joseph Mbu of being a security risk, noting that Mbu was in the habit of exposing decisions reached at the state security council meetings.
Speaking when former Petroleum Minister, Professor Tam David-West, led a delegation on solidarity visit to him in Government House, Port Harcourt, he said things were heading for the worse with Mbu as Commissioner of Police in the state, as his (Mbu) operational style had made it difficult to convene security meetings in the state.
“Prof (David-West), let me mention to you some of the challenges we are facing in Rivers State now. I will give you snippets of the letter I am trying to send to the President. Somebody at the top changed our Commissioner of Police and brought a man who when we finish Security Council meetings, goes to report who said what and we are unable to hold any Security Council meeting anymore because of that.
“Insecurity is threatening to come back, kidnapping is on the rise and armed robbery is on the rise because they have hijacked the security of the state. The Commissioner of Police reports to them in Abuja directly. He doesn’t report to the governor, he has nothing to do with the government, he takes away security men from my commissioners and posts security men to the chairman of Port Harcourt Club. Port Harcourt Club is a social gathering, it is somewhere behind us here. So, we have that problem and we believe that we should begin to address it.”
He also cautioned against mismanagement of the country’s Police, noting that it was an institution set up in the interest of all.
He said that the reason why the Federal Government kicked against state Police was because it feared the state governors could mismanage it.
“We want the Federal Government to remember that the reason why it did not support state police was because they said the governors will mismanage state police, but at the same time, the federal police should not be mismanaged or used against us because the police is an institution for all Nigerians.”
Amaechi, meanwhile said that anyone who accords recognition to the Governor Jonah Jang-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, was not a democrat, adding that he won the NGF election with majority vote.
“They should not have put themselves forward for election because if you don’t accept results when you don’t win, then you are not democratic. Anybody who recognises my brother Jang (as NGF chairman) is also undemocratic because even that person may not accept any election result that does not favour him. Let the will of the people be expressed and let us respect the sanctity of their decision.”
Source: Vanguard
