Police Shooting: Senate Com’ttee Begins Probe …As NASS Directs IGP To Investigate Incident

Following the alleged unlawful invasion of the rally organised by a non-governmental organisation, the Save Rivers Movement last Sunday, by armed policemen with suspected teargas canisters and rubber bullets at the premises of the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola in Port Harcourt, the Senate Committee has visited Rivers State to commence fact finding on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The committee will also investigate the shooting of the Senator representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe by the Police with teargas and rubber bullets, and will further present its report to the National Assembly for proper deliberation and resolution on the matter.
Chairman of Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Igwe Paulinus Wagwu disclosed this to newsmen yesterday when he led members of the committee on a fact finding visit to the State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in Port Harcourt.
According to him, “We are here in Rivers State to carry out fact finding on the incident that happened last Sunday where it was alleged that the police shot teargas and rubber bullets, which incidentally, also affected Senator Magnus Abe. We have not concluded our investigation yet, when we have concluded our investigation, we will submit our report to the National Assembly for their deliberation and resolution on the matter”, Senator Igwe said.
Asked why the delay in the deployment of the State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu out of Rivers State, Senator Igwe said the National Assembly had stated its position on the immediate deployment of Mbu, but expressed regrets that the matter involving the state police commissioner was still in court and prayed that justice be done.
Earlier, during a brief interview by the Committee on Police Affairs, with the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Tony Okocha, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Igwe told Okocha that they were in Rivers State to find out what happened, the level of participation, and the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Okocha told them that a non-governmental organization, the Save Rivers Movement, while on a sensitisation and mobilisation mission informed the police in Rivers State in writing of its intention to organise a rally in support of the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) for the Obio-Akpor Chapter which was to be held at the premises of the Rivers State College of Arts and Science Rumuola, in Port Harcourt, after holding similar rallies in Eleme, Asari-Toru, Opobo-Nkoro and others.
Okocha said, “On Saturday evening, being 11th January, 2014, I was at the premises of Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola where the stage for the rally was set up and we expected that in the following morning being Sunday, the rally will hold as planned by the Save Rivers Movement. On Sunday morning, as early as 6am my phone rang and the caller said, the police, about five (5) troopers had besieged the premises and dismantled the canopies, chairs and table arranged for the event, while teargas was shot to disperse the crowd that morning. When I got to the venue, I saw crowd of Policemen, including three (3) Armored personnel carriers (APC), and also saw how the venue was upturned by the police. It was not too long I met Senator Magnus Abe, and the police continued the shooting of teargas and rubber bullets. One of the rubber bullets hit me on my left leg and also touched Senator Abe, right now, I can’t walk properly. Despite the police invasion, we were armless. When we saw that, Magnus Abe had been injured, we managed to put him into a vehicle that took him to the Hospital for medical treatment, before he was flown abroad”.
Okocha further expressed disappointment at the Police for slanting its politically motivated attack on law-abiding citizens to gain political favour, which he said was against the interest of Rivers people in the current democratic setting and called on the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to find lasting solution to end the height of impunity against Rivers citizens by the police.
Meanwhile, the Senate had last Monday directed Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to investigate last Sunday’s tragic rally in Rivers State at which Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, was allegedly shot with rubber bullets by the police.
Senator Abe, who was initially rushed to Kelsey Harrison Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt while in coma, is now in the United Kingdom for medical attention.
The Senate, in a statement issued in Abuja by its spokesman, Sen Enyinaya Abaribe, strongly condemned “the escalating political violence in Rivers State.
“The Senate urged the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the latest incident and ensure that it never recurs.
“In the same vein, the Senate advises politicians and their supporters to exercise greater restraint and avoid acts that will not only overheat the system but also harm the country’s democracy,” the statement said.
Similarly, the House of Representatives has joined in condemning the Rivers State Police Command over the reported violent disruption of the rally organised at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science (RIVCAS), Rumuola, in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state by an All Progressives Congress (APC)-support group, the Save Rivers Movement.
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon Zakari Mohammed, who made the House’s position known to newsmen in Abuja, said the incident “boils down to the nature of training security operatives go through in recent times,” noting that “it is very sad. We call on the Federal Government to unveil the perpetrators of these dastardly acts.”
Mohammed advocated the creation of state police as the only way to check insecurity in the country.
According to him, “with the event of the recent past and because of the security challenges at present, state police will not be out of place.”
Mohammed said with the present setting in the Nigeria Police, “if something is happening in my village, you would need a divisional police officer (DPO) or commissioner of police (CP) to take orders from Abuja. By then, people would have lost their lives along the line.
“We need to have a localised police like (in) the developed countries, where they have sheriffs. Nigeria is so vast in terms of geographical location for a federal police to handle,” he argued.
“For us, this is against police professional ethics and best practices, which means that CP Mbu has taken sides and unfortunately descended partisanly into the political arena; thereby breaching the law.
and enforcing a non-existing Police Permit Order.
CNPP, in the statement tagged, “President Jonathan: Save Our Democracy”, therefore, reminded the Nigeria Police Force that the Police Permit Order had been repealed by the Appeal Court, as an obnoxious colonial order, following a suit filed by the CNPP.
To that effect, “groups, associations and political parties are under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which guaranteed freedom of association and assemblage; hence the duty of the police is to protect all and not to side with any group.
“In sum, we challenge President Jonathan to direct the Inspector General of  Police to post CP Joseph Mbu out of Rivers State; failing which we shall hold Mr President responsible for the do-or-die politics unfolding in Rivers State”, the statement concluded.

Former Governor of Lagos State and APC Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left),sympathising with Senator Magnus Abe in his London hospital ward, yesterday