Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, said on Tuesday that he was not prepared to ‘throw in the towel’ because of the political crisis rocking the state.
Mbu explained that he had no reason to surrender since he had been investigated and cleared by the police high command and the Police Service Commission.
The state police commissioner was responding to questions from the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Paulinus Igwe, who led members of his committee, including Senator Hadi Sirike, on a fact-finding mission to the state.
Rivers had been embroiled in an unending political crisis since April 2013, a development that led to the shooting of a lawmaker representing Rivers South East, Senator Magnus Abe, on Sunday in Port Harcourt.
Mbu, however, told the Senate committee that he decided to turn down the request for a rally because the state government sold a dummy to him on two occasions.
He explained that the state government had applied to for a permit to organise an empowerment programme, but later organised an All Progressives Congress rally.
The dialogue between the chairman of the Senate committee and Mbu went thus:
Igwe: “Are you prepared to throw in the towel as the commissioner of police considering the condemnation that has trailed this incident and repeated calls for you to leave the state.”
Mbu: “I have no reason to throw in the towel as a police officer. I have been investigated by the Police High Command and the Police Service Commission, which are the two regulatory bodies for the police force and I have not been found wanting. So, there is no reason for me to resign from the police force if that is what you mean.”
Igwe: How would you describe your relationship with Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi?
Mbu: “Our working relationship is cordial. We exchange text messages frequently on the security situation in the state. We speak to one another anytime there is need for us to do so.
Igwe: Senator Abe confided in me that the Save Rivers Movement applied for a permit for the rally but you turned it down. Why?
Mbu: I turned down their request for a permit to converge at the venue of the proposed rally because on the two occasions they applied for police permit they sold us a dummy. They applied for a permit to organize a welfare empowerment at the Liberation Stadium at Elekahia, in Port Harcourt, and I granted it because I believed what they said they wanted to do.
Any person in the position of authority should support welfare programmes designed to help the poor, the sick and the under -privileged. But what happened? We in the command were surprised when we realized it was an APC declaration rally.”
Source: Punch
