As reactions across the country trail last Friday’s dismissal of six police details attached to the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike by the Police High Command, stakeholders in Rivers State have not only joined in condemning the action, but have insisted that the decision be reversed in the interest of justice.
Former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Austin Opara, condemned the police authorities’ action, and called on the human rights community to stand up and challenge the brazen abuse of human rights with the illegal dismissal of the six police officers.
Opara, a strong chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, who gave his views in an interview with newsmen in Ahoada, headquarters of Ahoada West Local Government Area, shortly after the defection of a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Cassidy Ikegbidi, claimed that the sacking of the police officers was politically-motivated, and not based on any act of misconduct as claimed by the police high command.
Rivers State Publicity Secretary of PDP, Samuel Nwanosike, also condemned the action, describing it as vindictive, and therefore, unacceptable to the people of the state.
Nwanosike, who is also Ikwerre Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairman, claimed that the six police officers did not violate any professional ethics in their conduct before, during and after the Rivers legislative rerun elections to warrant the disciplinary hammer of the police high command, insisting that the dismissal of six officers attached to Governor Nyesom Wike justified Rivers State Government’s allusion to police partisanship, and connivance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to favour candidates of a particular political party in the elections.
He alleged that rather than punish the Commander of SARS in the state, Assistant Commissioner of Police Akin Fakorede and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Steven Hasso, for their brazen abuse of power, impunity and violation of the civic rights of Rivers people, whose votes were not allowed to count in most parts of the state, especially Rivers South East Senatorial District, the police high command looked the other way, and deliberately elected to arrest and prosecute junior officers, who were performing their legitimate and constitutional duties.
The PDP spokesman recalled the brutal assault on him by the police team led by Fakorede at Isiokpo, headquarters of Ikwerre LGA, as well as the brutalization of the caretaker committee chairman of Emohua LGA, for refusing to allow fake police officers on election duty hijack, and divert election results to private residences of APC chieftains, for substitution of original results with forged ones, and added that those fake officers were supposed to have been dismissed , arrested and prosecuted according to the law.
He pledged the readiness of the PDP and the Rivers State Government to continue to fight for justice and protect the nation’s democracy, arguing that the party and other Rivers people were prepared to stand as witnesses for the six dismissed police officers, believing that at the end of the day, the innocent will get justice.
The lawmaker representing Degema Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Doctor Farah Dagogo described the dismissal of the six officers as retrogressive, and an ignominious dent on Nigeria’s democracy.
Dagodo, said the action of the police has reinforced the opinion in several quarters that the governor had been penciled down for assassination, and condemned the police for turning a blind eye to the misconduct of its senior personnel during the rerun legislative elections, even with glaring and incriminating video evidences.
AlsoBarrister Clifford Oparaodu expressed sadness over the dismissal of six security officers attached to the Rivers State governor, saying that it was sad that the Nigerian Police has condescended so low.
He noted that the dismissed officers acted according to regulations of their duties, to protect their principal, adding that the dismissal was a desecration of the sacred duty of the police, and an affront on democracy.
Reacting over the action by the police high command, the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) said the sacking of the six officers has shown that the Inter-Party Advisory Council was not just raising unnecessary alarm that the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were working together to derail democracy in the country.
The Chairman of NNPP, Deacon Princewill Enyi, who reacted to the police high command’s action, noted that the decision has vindicated the IPAC and others who had accused the police of aiding the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the December 10 rerun legislative elections in Rivers State in favour of the APC.
He urged Nigerians to urgently rise and save the nation from anarchy and injustice, adding that the current happenings portend serious danger to the nation’s democracy.
The Deputy Chairman of IPAC, Engineer Joshua Worlu, also said the police erred in dismissing the six security details attached to the governor without following due process of law, saying that action amounted to dictatorship.
The Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Inter-Party Affairs, Chris Itamuola, said that action was done in bad fate, and therefore, would be challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction.
Itamulola said the life and destiny of the sacked police officers will never be jeopardized as the state government would do everything possible to provide them alternative and better sources of livelihood.
Secretary, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, Barrister Erastus Awortu, said the action was meant to punish innocent junior police officers, rather than sanction senior officers who committed heinous crimes during and after the rerun elections.
He dismissed accusations of misconduct against the six junior officers, and alleged that ACP Akin Fakarode and DCP Steve Hasso, who led the assault on democracy and the civic rights of Rivers people have were being honoured as brave, gallant and diligent officers.
Leader of the Niger Delta Youth Coalition, Prince Emmanuel Ogba, called for the immediate reinstatement of the dismissed police officers, saying that the officers merely discharged their constitutional and legitimate duties to their principal during and after the rerun elections.
Ogba said that the action of the police high command has given the impression that the Rivers State governor, who they were detailed to protect, was being witch-hunted.
Also speaking, a political analyst, Georgewill Amadi, urged the police authorities to revisit the matter, adding that dismissing the young officers over unproven allegations of misconduct was not fair and just.
The Public Relations Officer, Civil Liberties Organisation, Comrade Solomon Clifford, claimed that no proper investigation was done before the six officers were dismissed, and cautioned the police high command against dabbling in partisan politics.
Similarly, the Deputy Provost, Rivers State College of Health Sciences, Dr Ishmael Onungbu, said that the action was a dangerous precedent for the nation’s democracy, adding that the six junior police officers should have rather been rewarded for protecting democracy and rule of law.
Executive Director, Niger Delta Coalition Against Violence, Lekia Christian, condemned the police action, and added that democracy can only be nurtured, strengthened and sustained in the country when the tenets of democracy and imperatives of justice are respected.
Also, a socio-political organization in the state, “The Voice”, described the action as an act of lawlessness and impunity, and called for immediate reversal of the decision.
Public Relations Officer of the organization, Prince William Chinwo, in a statement in Port Harcourt, queried the unjust treatment of the junior officers, who only performed their legitimate duties of escorting and protecting their principal as prescribed by law.
Legal Adviser to the Kankanro Unity Forum, a socio-cultural group, Barrister Tobu-Tamuno Dick, said the dismissal of the officers was a wrongful act, and vowed to mobilize lawyers in the state to defend the officers in court.
‘’The police decision cannot hold water, the court will upturn the decision of the police because they are in every obligation to guide and protect the governor at every point in time’’, he said.
It would be recalled that the police high command, last Friday, in Abuja, paraded six policemen attached to the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, for their alleged involvement in electoral malpractices during last month’s parliamentary re-run elections in the state.
The six officers are Inspector Eyong Victor (AP/No.177893 ), Sergeant Peter Ekpo (F/No. 400872), Sergeant Oguni Goodluck (F/No.374585), Sergeant Orji Nwoke (F/No. 385870), Sergeant Okpe Ezekiel (F/No. 234216), and Sergeant Tanko Akor (F/No. 437983).
The affected officers, according to a statement signed by Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, were in the convoy of Rivers State Governor, Chief Neysom Wike, on the day of the election, and allegedly misused the firearms in their possession contrary to the provisions of Force Order 237.
“The service personnel became overzealous, took laws into their hands and opened fire, causing panic in the crowd. They joined in storming the Port Harcourt City Council Secretariat and prevented the movement of election results of Emouha polling unit to the appropriate collation centre designated by INEC, in flagrant disregard and disobedience to senior Police officers present at the venue,” the statement added.
“Following the conclusion of investigations into their misconduct, explained the Force spokesman, they were subjected to internal disciplinary measures, found guilty, consequently dismissed and will be prosecuted.
“They will be prosecuted under the Electoral Act to serve as a deterrent to others. Consequently, personnel of the Force who abuse their office, privileges and discretionary powers in the discharge of their official duties, will be brought to justice,” Awunah stated.
The Force spokesperson also explained that the dismissed officers ignored strict warnings and instructions from the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, that all policemen on election duty should be of good conduct and desist from escorting their principals, notably public office holders and politicians to polling units throughout the period of the election.

John Bibor, Taneh Beemene, Chris Oluoh & Enoch Epelle