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Tag: Mbu

  • Why CP Mbu must go, Rivers governor insists

    Why CP Mbu must go, Rivers governor insists

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State yesterday took his case for the removal of the state Police Commissioner, John Mbu, to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Abuja.

    The governor, who had earlier submitted a petition on the CP’s removal to the NHRC, appeared before the commission in Abuja yesterday in response to its invitation to throw light on the petition.

    Emerging from his meeting with officials of the commission,Amaechi told journalists that his petition was to draw the nation’s attention to the fledging regime of impunity, rights abuses and police brutality in the state.

    “What we are trying to do is to bring to the focus of the Nigerian nation that Rivers State is becoming a police state,” he said.

    “We are here to submit a petition against the institution of the Nigeria Police. We thought it was the responsibility of the Nigeria Police to protect all Nigerians and protect the government.

    “You know the Federal Government, through the President, said they do not want state police. One of the reasons they advanced for not wanting state police is that the governors will abuse the institution of state police.

    “Now, the Nigeria Police’s institution is being used to undermine the state government, to the extent that we can barely even hold meetings and state functions.”

    He cited instances where policemen in the state prevented and disrupted lawful gathering of residents and state government officials.

    On one occasion, he said policemen teargased prospective teachers in the state.

    The excuse was that the people intended to protest against the President.

    “Then I asked a question whether, even if they wanted to demonstrate against the President, is there any law that bars anybody from demonstrating against the President?

    “I thought we have the right to peaceful assembly. I know that it is only when the assembly becomes violent that you can then call in the police.”

    He accused Mbu of behaving like a member of the ruling party and of taking instructions from the party’s hierarchy.

    The governor expressed hope that the NHRC will act independently and be transparent in handling his petition.

    NHRC’s Executive Secretary, Professor Bem Angwe, said Amaechi was at the commission to help shed light on the allegations of rights abuses he raised in his petition.

    He said the commission had also invited more people, including Mbu. He said the NHRC, in the course of its investigation, would visit the state and hold a public hearing on the case.

    Angwe did not specify when the investigation will end, but pledged that it would be thorough and transparent.

    He said his commission would not hesitate to exercise its power of directing the arrest of any invited witness that refused the commission’s invitation.

  • Rivers teachers are miscreants, says Police Commissioner Mbu

    Rivers teachers are miscreants, says Police Commissioner Mbu

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday accused Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu of fabricating lies to justify his nefarious actions.

    The police commissioner declared that he would always abort gatherings without police permit.

    Mbu described the 13,000 newly-recruited teachers, who were at the Liberation Stadium on Wednesday to collect their posting letters, but were chased out with teargas by policemen, as “touts and miscreants” hired by Amaechi to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The police commissioner, at a news conference yesterday, claimed that he acted on a security report that the people at the stadium were hired to disrupt the peace in the state.

    Mbu alleged that the new teachers employed by the Amaechi administration were specifically recruited to embark on a protest against President Jonathan, insisting that they were 18,000 youths and not 13,000 teachers.

    The police chief also displayed some of the mutilated placards he claimed to have recovered from the teachers, with the following inscriptions: “It is time for the North”, “Amaechi for VP”, “North for President” and “Amaechi for Vice-President 2015”.

    He said: “The truth is that the government of the state (Rivers) is trying to keep the police perpetually at work by distracting us. Those ‘newly-employed teachers’ were hired youths.

    “They were hired to carry placards and protest against the President of the country. I am here to show you the placards. They were called to go there. In all, they did not invite the police. Nobody invited the police.

    “My informants called me that they were not called to be given letters, but were given cardboards to protest against President Jonathan. They tore these things (placards) into pieces. We put them together. As a Commissioner of Police, whose ears are on the ground, I will always abort such gatherings.”

    Amaechi, who spoke through the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Chief Tony Okocha, said: “On Wednesday, policemen, on Mbu’s orders, chased out 13,000 newly-recruited teachers, who gathered at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, to collect their posting letters.

    “The attention of the Rivers State Government has been drawn to allegations of gross impropriety levelled against it by the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, to the effect that 13,000 newly-employed teachers were hired touts and miscreants, engaged to embark on protest in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    “In a media briefing addressed by the Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, he displayed placards allegedly carried by the 13,000 teachers, whom he described as miscreants.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Rivers State Government does not have to bandy words with the state police command, whose stock-in-trade is to fabricate lies at every instance, to justify its nefarious actions.

    “Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu and indeed the state police command are known to be pathological liars. The case of Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, the Dean of the Anglican Church, whom they claimed to have secured his release from his abductors, is a ready example (Kattey denied that police rescued him).

    “Mr Mbu is a bad taste and we urge Rivers people not to be distracted by his many deafening lies.

    “For the records, the 13,000 teachers converged on the Liberation Stadium, Elekahia, Port Harcourt, to collect their letters of posting to their various duty posts. This fact can be verified by any objective mind.”

    The Deputy Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Leyii Kwanee, described the prevention and dispersing of teachers as a display of totalitarianism.

    According to him, the Rivers PDP led by Felix Obuah has been holding rallies without obtaining permits from the police.

    He noted that Obuah’s rallies were against the regulations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and also capable of breaching the peace, considering the volatile situation in the state.

    Kwanee also called on well-meaning Nigerians to rise up and condemn the ugly development, stressing that Rivers state was sliding into anarchy and the nation to precipice, adding: “It is Governor Amaechi today. Who will it be tomorrow?”

  • It turns out CP Mbu is actually governor of Rivers

    Since the officious Rivers State police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, began to lend himself for political uses, neither he nor victims of his insubordination have slept peacefully. His career seems fated to crumble like that of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Raphael Ige, who in 2003 led the abduction of Chris Ngige, then governor of Anambra State, but what does he care? He is inured to history and its harsh lessons. He boasts a high level of education from reputable schools, but in all his doings in Rivers State, he has shown nothing of the learning and character required of an educated officer and gentleman.

    But Mr Mbu, we all appreciate, could never on his own summon the courage or the recklessness to undermine the person or office of the governor of the state as he did last Thursday when he blocked the access of the governor and his august visitors to the State House. And like many of his colleagues, there is no incentive in the police conditions of service, nor flexibility in their training, to equip them with the character required to resist unlawful orders or to call their souls their own. Except I err gravely, I do not also think the urbane Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, would give Mr Mbu orders to disrespect the Rivers State governor. If anything, I suspect that if it came to the crunch, the two, or any other police officer in their shoes, would simply and safely second-guess the presidency.

    But whether they were ordered to disrespect and subvert the elected governor of Rivers or not, or they second-guessed the presidency with intent to curry favour or secure promotion or not, the important thing is that Mr Mbu has acted and presented himself as the real, not even alternate, governor of Rivers State. He proves increasingly that he has more real power than the governor, and could even ruffle the feathers of the governor, if not singe them altogether, if provoked. That we elected the defiant Governor Amaechi, not the snivelling and grovelling Mr Mbu, is, to the police officer, a small theoretical inconvenience. Given the way he speaks whenever he crosses path and arms with the governor, it is obvious that Mr Mbu has assured himself that what obtains in the state, and in which he is not disadvantaged at all, is what historians describe as contrapuntal paramountcy. Cheeky analysts may even describe the balance of terror in Rivers State as a sort of dual mandate, where Mr Mbu draws his insidious and destabilising power from Abuja, and Mr Amaechi draws his legitimate power from the long-suffering and sometimes confused electorate. To our collective dismay, we know that the real power resides in Abuja, not in some vague and indefinable electorate.

    Someday, however, we will have a bright patriot as president. He will know what to do, and he will do them well. That day, alas, is not here yet.

  • The Mbu that Nigerians do not know

    The world over, they are regarded as special species of Homo sapiens and sequel to their sophisticated training, they most times are a step ahead of their peers. In Nigeria, however, many security personnel especially those recruited and enlisted into the Nigeria Police have lost every iota of credibility to the extent that it is an uphill task to build up the personnel to what it used to be in pre-independent era. In those days, security was an exclusive terrain where personnel were hardly seen and if they were to be sighted, it was usually during operations or at police stations. It was very difficult to find a police officer in places where there were no security operations.

    However as society develops, so also do people advance in knowledge and sophistication. Many have dabbled into security matters with mere primordial understanding of the entailments of security. In all of these, Nigerian politicians unlike their counterparts in other shores have positioned themselves as meddlesome interlopers. They present themselves as leaders and also believe that every institution in their state is intricately intertwined with their portfolio. No wonder they see nothing wrong in the steps they take on issues that have nothing to do with politics.

    The case of Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu needs mentioning. Except the uninformed is served with his achievements, many may not know and appreciate who this officer that Nigerians want to sacrifice on the altar of politics. Politicians care less about the achievements of officers in the police, there are officers and there are officers. For instance, Mbu, as far as I know, is among the grade ‘A’ officers of the Nigeria Police Force. Here is an officer that graduated from the University of Lagos where he made Second Class Upper in Political Science, and got enlisted as a cadet officer in 1985. Besides, he has worked in virtually every part of the country. His first major posting was as the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ukwa-East and Isiala-Ngwa Local government Area of Abia State. His insistence on discipline made the commissioner to upgrade him as the State Command’s Provost and later as the Head of Management in the Abia State Command.

    It is on record that Mbu is one of the few officers in the police with zero-tolerance for corruption and indiscipline. When he was the Federal Highway Commander in-charge of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, motorists were daily applauding  every of his leadership qualities. His performance in those states brought him to limelight, culminating in his being made chairman of the Federal Task Force on petroleum in Niger State. He was also appointed Area Commander in Minna where he received an award as the best area commander in Niger State. When robbery was getting out of hand in Delta State, it was Mbu that was picked and posted to Ugheli, and again he was decorated as the best Area Commander in Delta State. His rise, which is in tandem with handwork, resulted in his posting as Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration in Anambra State command. He became a ready tool for positive change in the police when the police colleges in the country were decapitating and contractors were having a field day and swimming in corrupt and sharp practices. Mbu was posted to rescue the sinking police schools and secondary schools. Before he was posted out of the education unit, he had successfully restored the dignity and falling standard of all the 55 primary schools and seven police secondary schools in the country. It was during his brief tenure that police officers’ confidence was restored to send their children to police schools and secondary schools. It was, therefore, not surprising when he was moved and made chairman of the monitoring and implementation committee of Police Housing Projects when it was discovered that contractors were conniving to deliver low quality jobs to the detriment of the Force.

    Like him or hate him, Mbu is an officer of repute. He may not have tread softly the “political soil” where Governor Amaechi holds sway, but Mbu should not seen as one picked from Mars to be in charge of the Rivers State Police command. The Inspector General of Police, who approved his posting, understood the terrain and geo-political atmosphere before posting him there, so why the hullabaloo? Some Nigerian politicians are short-tempered and think every Federal Government personnel serving in their state automatically falls under  their jurisdiction and therefore should be subject to their influence and power. A case on record was that of Assistant Inspector General of Police Donald Iroham who as police commissioner was having a running security misunderstanding with former Governor Ohakim of Imo State who turned it into a political issue and demanded the transfer of the commissioner. After a prolonged intervention by the IGP, Iroham was posted out of Imo State to Lagos. He later ended up in Kwara as that state’s police commissioner.  Mbu’s posting to Rivers State is like a man thrown into a surging tide and left to swim against the tide. Such venture requires gut, stamina, relentlessness and perseverance. All these attributes are the gains of every policeman who has undergone the mobile police force training. It is appropriate to mention that the same Mbu before his appointment to Rivers State was the CP in charge of the Police Mobile Force when ethics and discipline was at its lowest ebb. Again Mbu was redeployed to Oyo State where he tamed the ever aggressive motor union activists.

    No one is covering any of his perceived excesses and utterances but the truth is that the wading into the alleged crisis by the Inspector General of Police, who dispatched a Deputy Inspector General of Police to investigate and write his report, is a welcome development. In my opinion, Mbu as a political scientist and a trained police officer concerned with the security of the state understands the challenges. Perhaps more than anyone, he appreciates that there should be a synergy between top security personnel and political leaders, for good governance can only be guaranteed in an atmosphere of peace.

     

    •Okezie is an Abuja-based security analyst.

     

  • …NLC blames insecurity on police commissioner

    …NLC blames insecurity on police commissioner

    Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, has come under fire for the worsening security situation in the state.

    His posting has been linked to the insecurity the residents of the state have had to grapple with in the past weeks.

    The Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Chris Oruge, stated this when he led a delegation of NLC members and activists on a solidarity visit to the Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Port Harcourt yesterday.

    He lamented the current insecurity in the state, saying that the people are not sure of getting protection from the police, as the state had become a den of former militants known for criminality.

    He said: “The security of the state has gone down since the posting of the almighty Mbu. Mbu has become another former INEC Chairman for us and everybody now is sleeping with one eye open.

    “All the militants, the bad boys who had left this state have recovened and have been doing what they are doing. The result of their actions is on those of us who have no security, have nobody to protect us except the Almighty God.”

    He, however, assured Governor Amaechi that the NLC leadership and members in the state would continue to support him as he faces stiff opposition from his political detractors.

    “We are here to make our point and to tell you that labour is solidly behind you, and we will continue to support your government. Since this crisis in the state, we have not heard anybody saying that Amaechi’s administration has not done well in Rivers State. So, we are completely at a loss as to what the problem is about,” he said.

    He commended the governor for building a good relationship with labour unions in the state and restated their displeasure at the current turn of events in the state.

    “I equally want to bring to your notice that labour is not happy with what is happening in the state presently, where hooligans have taken over the whole place, a peaceful state since you came,” Oruge said.

    Responding, Governor Amaechi thanked the labour leaders for the solidarity visit, saying he would continue to stand by the people of the state and ensure judicious use of funds for their well-being.

    He said: “Let me thank you for the solidarity visit. It encourages me that at least you have the support of the people and not the support of the elites. Whether the elites support you or not, it is good. But what is important is the support of the people, because power belongs to God actually. But you are God’s agents on earth with power, because it is through you that we exercise those powers.

    “So, I thank you and I assure you that I will continue to stand by you and by the Rivers people, and we will continue to do the right thing. I believe that the public money is for the public and it’s for the public good.”

  • Mbu: I provided security for the sitting

    Mbu: I provided security for the sitting

    Rivers State Commissioner of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, in a statement last night, explained his own side of the story.

    His statement: “Yesterday (Monday), in the evening, I received a letter from the Clerk of House of Assembly through the House Leader, Hon: Lloyd Chidi, requesting for police security as the House wanted to resume sitting. I was nonchalant about it because it is unusual for the House to request for police when sitting. Moreover, there is a police station with men attached to the House of Assembly.

    “Later at about 2100hrs of the same yesterday, the Brigade Commander wrote to me, requesting me to please provide police personnel to the House of Assembly. He attached a letter written to him by the same House of Assembly Clerk requesting for the presence of the Army in today’s sitting. It was there and then I called the Commander of Mopol 19 CSP Braide to send half a unit to the House of Assembly this morning,

    On my way to the office, I saw the mobile police personnel and a detachment of C41, Civil Defence with sniffer dogs checking persons going in and out of the Assembly.

    “I then sent Deputy CP in-charge of Operations and the Assistant CP Operations to go there.

    “The next thing I saw was a call from the governor that he was going to the House of Assembly, that his members were not safe. I saw his convoy through my office window going into the House of Assembly. I was told he was in the chamber where there was fighting, with all his aides.”

     

  • Mbu Joseph Mbu

    •Is the Rivers police boss a policeman or politician? IGP must call him to order

    From his outrageous comments, this question is imperative: is Mbu Joseph Mbu, the commissioner of Police in Rivers State, a police officer or a politician?

    Mr. Mbu has been blabbing, and blowing hot and cold: Governor Rotimi Amaechi is a dictator; Governor Amaechi has no respect for the Police; Governor Amaechi is Rivers State chief security officer, he (Mbu) is only 2iC [regimental-speak for second-in-command], the governor is my friend, the governor is my boss, the governor is my brother; only that, the press is blowing the Mbu-Amaechi affair out of context, blah, blah, blah!

    In fairness to Mr. Mbu, his utterances have been provoked by grave gubernatorial accusations, that the police commissioner had been remiss in his duty: allegedly partisan in the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crisis, allegedly leaking security information to those who should not know, being allegedly prompted to mastermind a sinister change in the security details of the governor and his top staff, and aiding and abetting anti-Amaechi protests while allegedly suppressing pro-Amaechi rallies.

    Mr. Mbu perhaps was exercising his right of self-defence, in the face of all these grave allegations; and his not-too-hidden body language, that spoke of a misguided viceroy at Abuja’s pleasure, despatched down to contest the limelight with the elected governor, or even outright boss him.

    But the more Mr. Mbu opened his mouth, the more he sank into the quicksand of one blundering into matters not exactly his forte; and causing himself grave professional embarrassment, in the mind of any right-thinking citizen.

    Indeed, since the President Vs Governor tussle in Rivers State started, no thanks to his unguarded, if not outright reckless utterances, Mr. Mbu has been a classical example of how not to be a police officer: loud, reckless, explosive, partial and outright insufferable.

    Rather than, as his high security office demands, being a dignified official of state, he has turned himself into a wretched serf for occupiers of state offices, no matter how high. Even for a partisan Police, he is an ultra-bad advertisement.

    Mohammed Abubakar, the inspector-general of police (IGP), should call this errant officer to order. But maybe the hammer should start with the IGP himself: from which school are his officers made these days and what orders does he give them? Whatever the IGP’s operational briefs to Mr. Mbu, the police commissioner has exhibited a profound lack of tact and wisdom, that any dutiful policeman must be embarrassed on his behalf.

    But perhaps the IGP and his errant police commissioner are only the symptom, not the root cause of the problem. The root cause is a 1999 Constitution (as amended) that is eminently a mockery of itself. How can a constitution claim it is federal, and yet stipulate such centrist doctrines that border on legal idiocy? How can a constitution claim a governor is chief executive officer of his state and yet the police commissioner in his state takes orders from his IGP, who is not even elected? And yet, there is no state police!

    Even, the amendments in the works point to another legal idiocy. The states, it is being suggested, would take over prisons. Sure, there are state high courts. Soon, if the amendment passes, there would be state-exclusively controlled prisons. Yet, there is no talk of state police! So, how complete is the criminal-justice system at state level, without state police?

    A stop must be put to this constitutional self-mockery. But even before then, something is clear: the constitution, warts and all, does not still provide for a presidential viceroy come to muddle up security waters in a state, even if the state governor does not see eye to eye with the president. That is the ignoble role Mr. Mbu is playing. It is downright ugly!

    Having said that, however, even with the all-too-obvious provocation, Governor Amaechi himself should temper his utterances. Declaring he was ready to be shot by an insufferable police commissioner adds no gloss to gubernatorial prestige and dignity.

     

  • Mbu Joseph Mbu

    Not a few from my generation and above should be able to recall events in old Oyo state in the second republic, particularly in 1983 as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) engaged the ruling Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in a political battle for the right to occupy the government house at Agodi.

    The NPN you’ll recall was the ruling party at the centre and had among its ranks party bigwigs from Oyo State such as prominent Ibadan indigenes, Chief Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye (now late), national chairman,Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide (SAN) Attorney -General and Minister of Justice and Dr Omololu Olunloyo, among others.

    So with so many political heavyweights in its rank coming from the state, the NPN did not see any reason why it should not be in control at Agodi, and so the federal government of President Shehu Shagari deployed every resources at its disposal, notably the Nigeria Police and the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to rig the party into power and denied Chief Bola Ige (now late) of the UPN a second term in office as governor. Dr Olunloyo, the NPN candidate was declared elected by FEDECO.

    Of course the people of Oyo state didn’t take the electoral robbery lightly as there were clashes here and there between the opposing political parties, even before the election, but Chief Ige opted to pursue his grievances against the result at the tribunal, but he failed. The federal might had spoken.

    In all of this, there was a certain police officer named Umaru Omolowo, remember him? He was the Commissioner of Police in Oyo state and his role was more than despicable. He did his part very well in ensuring that the NPN had its way. He wasn’t really acting alone as the Police in the second republic, under Sunday Adewusi as Inspector General operated more like the armed wing of the NPN than a security agency serving the interest of Nigeria. So as a member of this armed wing of the ruling party Omolowo was a “good” officer and acted his script very well.

    I remember a particular incident when a chieftain of the UPN, himself a prominent Ibadan indigene was attacked in his vehicle and seriously wounded by some hoodlums believed to be NPN thugs. He had machete cuts on his head. The man ran to a television studio and he was shown live with blood dripping from his forehead, but to the surprise of the general public Omolowo said nothing of such happened and the man sustained the head injury in a vehicle accident. Incredulous you say, coming from a commissioner of police without any investigative evidence to back his claim?

    That was not all, every other similar incidents the man either waved aside as not true or looked the other way as the NPN thugs had their way. Everything he saw through the prism of the NPN and what every other person saw he didn’t see. To him they were fictions. Chief Ige and his supporters cried foul but the CP played dumb and when he spoke he did according to script.

    No sane policeman should be proud of what the Nigeria Police did then. There were even people confirmed to be NPN thugs who were armed and given police uniform, by who? Nobody could tell,  but the police did little or nothing to arrest them. What these thugs did to political opponents of their masters is better imagined than experienced. The scars are still there at Oke Ado and other areas inhabited by non indigenes that were attacked in the NPN’s government vow to rid Ibadan of people from certain parts of Yoruba land believed to be supporters of the UPN.

    The role the Nigeria Police played in the south west especially in Oyo and Ondo states in support of NPN’s desperation to wrestle control of the region from the UPN contributed largely to bringing about the demise of the second republic.  The story is still fresh in the memories of those old enough then to appreciate what was going on at that time, and they are quick now to draw inference between what CP Omolowo was doing then in Oyo state and what Mbu Joseph Mbu is doing now as Commissioner of Police in Rivers state.

    There is indeed heightened political tensions and security challenges in Rivers state now and what is happening coincided with the appointment of Mr Mbu as the head of the Nigeria Police Command in the state. While it might be difficult to blame him solely for this, what is undeniable is that there is no love lost between him/his command and the government of Rivers state.

    The government is of the belief that the CP is part of an agenda by the opposition (within the ruling PDP in the state) and some Abuja politicians to bring down the administration of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and therefore wants him removed/redeployed. The governor has been crying out over this for sometime now alleging bias by the Commissioner of Police against his administration and the majority of the people of Rivers state. He said crime rate in the state is going up, kidnapping returning to the streets of Port Harcourt and militants are beginning to have a field day again. These he said had been long forgotten in the memory of the people of the state, but recent and on going happenings in the state (political/security) could throw the people back to those dark days of the recent past when people had to raise up their hands to pass through the streets of Port Harcourt. He said the government hasn’t been able to hold any internal security meeting for some time now because decisions taken often find their way to politicians in Abuja some of whom are opposed to his administration. He strongly suspects Mbu as the leak.

    In fairness to Mbu he didn’t respond to these allegations until recently, but even before then, he had acted in such a way and manner to suggest that the governor is probably right.

    In a clear interference in the political crisis in the state, the CP deployed his men to the secretariat of Obio/Akpor local government to “secure” the place against alleged planned attack following the suspension of the leadership of the council by the state House of Assembly (acting legitimately) and appointment of a caretaker committee. Against all pleas, even by the government, Mbu refused to vacate the premises even after a court had ordered him to remove his men. He bluntly said his men will remain in defiance of the court. The local interpretation of this was that he was doing so to protect the inerest of Minister of State for Education Nyeson Wike, a former ally of Amaechi, but now with the Abuja group, who hails from the area. You can imagine, a law enforcement officer disobeying the order of a court of law and record, with competent jurisdiction, and even doing so with impunity. But after a strong public pressure including demonstration by women wearing black, he did withdraw his men, but almost immediately the generator house of the secretariat was bombed and pronto, he returned his men, claiming the bombing as justification. But then conspiracy theorists have claimed that the attack on the council was with the knowledge of the Police and was allowed to be carried out by opponents of the government just to prove a point. What point? Your guess is as good as mine. Since then nobody has been arrested for the attack and the police are still at Obio/Akpor council secretariat even as the court order subsists. What a law enforcement officer.

    Mbu also didn’t do much to convince his accusers of his impartiality when he  gave permission to a group of opponents of the administration who besieged the premises of the House of Assembly to protest the suspension of the leadership of Obio/Akpor, and even allegedly led the team of policemen to give protection to the protesters some of whom were reportedly armed. And yet he reportedly vowed not to give permission to rival protest in support of the government.

    In the face of the shadow boxing between the police command and the state government, Mbu came out last week to reply Governor Ameachi’s accusations and did so in a manner that called to question his integrity, training and may be competence as a public officer. This is not a defence of the governor as he probably took the liberty of the privilege of his exalted office to say certain things about the police command and the CP that the ordinary members of the public knew or suspected but couldn’t say.

    So, may be the governor was speaking the minds of the silent majority in Rivers state who are not comfortable with the deteriorating political and security situation in the state and the seemingly biased role of the state police command, especially CP Mbu. But for the CP to call the governor dictatorial smacks of insubordination and was insulting. He should be called to order and sanctioned appropriately. No public officer, especially a member of the security forces should behave or be allowed to behave that way to a democratically elected leadership. Sure, no CP would have spoken like that about a military governor during the days of military dictatorship. Yes, we in a democracy but it also has its own rules and culture, and nobody should be allowed to brach them. There is need for decorum, albeit on both sides. But as the Yoruba would say, wherever is called the head, you don’t walk with it.

    Back to the management of the security situation in Rivers state, the governor is crying out now that things are getting bad and some people are committing security infringement with impunity and the CP is saying he is crying wolf. That was the position of CP Omolowo in the second republic on the political and security crises in Oyo state than and we all know what happened to that political dispensation. We should not open our eyes and allow this republic to go that way. Together, let’s safe this democracy.