Group Berates Police Over Bias In Rivers Politics

A crowd during the Save Rivers Movement rally in Bori, Rivers State last Saturday

A socio-political group
in Ekpeye Kingdom has berated the Rivers State Police Command over its biased stance in the political crisis in Rivers State.
The group under the aegis of Amaechi’s Teeming Supporters in Ekpeye Kingdom condemned what it described as a “show of shame perpetrated by the police in the state under the watch of Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, the state Commissioner of Police.
Leaders of the group, in a statement, denounced the state of impunity executed by the police against all political groups loyal to Governor Amaechi while lending security cover and support to the Grassroot Democratic Initiative (GDI), a pressure group sponsored by a serving federal minister.
The statement signed by Frank Nnanuum, Uche Igbegiri, Dele Odoyi and Napoleon Ukalikpe observed that the police had abandoned its constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and properties to becoming the umpire of Rivers politics.
They therefore, called on the immediate redeployment of the police commissioner and setting up of an inquiry into the activities of Mr Mbu’s tenure and activities in the state. It lamented that  rather  than providing a level playing ground for all politicians and political parties in the state, the police was continuously  taking sides with the GDI and its masterminds.
The group cited the attack on Save Rivers Movement on January 12 this year and disruption of a meeting of APC at Odioku and Upatabo communities in Ahoada West as cases in point of police brutality and high- handedness against Amaechi’s supporters and loyalists.
It also condemned the shooting of Senator Magnus Abe and tear-gasing of pro-Amaechi group by the police, adding that police action was a threat to the nation’s democracy and a drift to the dark era of the military regime.