Ogbonna Nwuke also backed calls for state police.
A member of the House of Representatives, Ogbonna Nwuke, has condemned Sunday’s invasion of Omuma Local Government headquarters of Rivers State, and the physical assault of the council chairman, John Anucha, by security operatives.
In a statement issued in Abuja after he received briefs from his constituents in the area on the attack, the lawmaker who represents Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency in the House, described the roles played by the police as despicable, shameful, unacceptable and undemocratic.
He said the siege on the council premises, using tanks, armed police and a sprinkle of soldiers, was coming against the backdrop of attempts to use the Omuma council premises to launch the Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, by supporters of the Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike.
The GDI is a political group founded by Mr. Wike.
Rivers State has been enmeshed in political crisis since April when the State House of Assembly ordered the suspension of the Chairman of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Timothy Nsirim, and his councilors.
The crisis has not only resulted in violence at the Rivers State House of Assembly premises, the state governor, Chibuike Amaechi, was on one occasion blocked from entering the Government House, forcing him to take an alternative route to the state’s seat of power.
Mr. Amaechi had repeatedly demanded the removal of the State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, citing rising cases of security breaches and crimes since Mr. Mbu assumed duties in the oil-rich state. The police authorities and the Federal Government have, however, ignored Mr. Amaechi’s concerns.
“Once again, the police, apparently acting on the instructions of a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly who claims to be a staunch supporter of Nyesom Wike, has demonstrated great disregard for decency and resorted to the use of terror to intimidate the good people of Omuma Local Government in pursuit of narrow parochial political interests,” Mr. Nwuke said in the statement.
Mr. Nwuke expressed his shock at the “undemocratic methods” adopted by the police and an elected official to undermine the democratic tenets and the rule of law.
“We are further amazed that serving soldiers and policemen would allow themselves to be used to unlawfully force open the gate of a council premises in order to encourage the use of council grounds for the launch of a partisan group such as the GDI.”
The lawmaker stated that the use of soldiers and policemen to invade the council premises was evidence of the abysmal use of security personnel in Rivers State since the arrival of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu, to distort law and order and create tension and crisis.
“It was a clear affront on our collective sense of decency, our understanding of society’s preservation of public order and public security, and what is proof of the growing threat to whatever is left of our sense of public morality under the watch of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu,” he said.
Mr. Nwuke, who is also the spokesperson for the House of Representatives caucus of the Abubakar Baraje-led PDP, urged all men and women of goodwill, including rights groups, to condemn the Rivers State Commissioner of Police for his penchant for fomenting trouble under the guise of supporting certain interests in Abuja. According to Mr. Nwuke, Mr. Mbu’s acts of great indiscretion were becoming alarming and legendary.
The lawmaker noted that the growing misuse of security apparatus, particularly members of the police force, had strengthened the arguments by proponents of state police on the need for it to be introduced as part of our federal system.
He assured that the National Assembly would pay appropriate attention to calls for the establishment of state police when the time came.
No comments:
Post a Comment