Governor Chibuike Amaechi has called on the Nigerian Police to be alive to its constitutional role of protecting lives and property by avoiding all forms of political influence.
Speaking last Wednesday when he received the new Assistant Inspector- General of Police, Zone 6, Mr Jonathan Johnson in Government House, Port Harcourt, Amaechi asserted that security of lives and property should be more paramount to the police than partisan politics.
His words, “ I like to welcome you AIG. We should not play politics with security. The only responsibility enshrined in the constitution for both the President and the state governors is that we sworn on oath that we will protect lives and property, and we are beginning to have that challenge in Rivers State.’’
With the current developments in the state, the Rivers State Chief Executive expressed worry that the state might begin to experience security challenges it had prior to the inception of his administration.
“We should not forget that you may play politics with every other thing but one place you don’t play politics with is security of the lives of our people who elected us to offices and it will not be in the interest of Rivers people if we go back to the era of 2005, 2006 and early 2007, ‘’ Amaechi said.
In his remarks earlier, Mr Johnson assured the governor that there would be no security breaches in the state again, disclosing that he had directed the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu to address any security lapses that may have raisen from recent postings of policemen in the state.
“ So we will take note of all these mistakes and we will correct them. I’am assuring you we will correct them’’ Johnson stressed, “ if there are lapses noticed, let us know so that we can make amends. And I also want to thank you (Amaechi) that for all you have done for us and the others that you are going to do. We shall continue to appreciate because you know requests from the police will never stop coming’’.
The police AIG acknowledged that most times the police was misconceived and like any other human beings are liable to fall short of expectations, “ every human being that is going to serve sometimes is susceptible to some errors here and there and when that comes to forefront, it is incumbent on that very particular person to say we shall amend’’
Against the backdrop of recent withdrawals of police attachees to some government officials in the state, the AIG noted that he had instructed the police commissioner to replace the police orderlies from the anti-terrorism squad with those of the Special Protection Unit (SPU),as he explained that the postings were normal.
Johnson thanked Governor Amaechi for his numerous support to the police, especially for his sponsorship of training and provision of equipment to the security agency, as he promised to beef up fight on kidnappings and other crimes in the zone.
His visit is to familiarise with men and officers of the zone since he resumed duties is aimed at enabling the AIG of three months ago.
He used the visit to assure the governor of police support and cooperation all the time.