Rivers Secure -Wike …As Reps Probe Ogoni Killings

Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Adams Dabatarudima (left), listening to the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Army, Hon Rimamude Shawulu Kwewun (right) and Amb Kingsley S. Ebenyi during the visit of the committee members to Gokana, yesterday.

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has told the House of Representatives Committee on the Army that Rivers State was safer and more secure as against propaganda and media hype by the opposition to paint the state in bad light.
He made the assertion while playing host to the House of Representatives Committee on the Army, which was in the state on fact-finding mission during a courtesy call in Government house in Port Harcourt on Monday.
“Like every other State, we have our security challenges, but we don’t have political killings, we have cases of cult-related violence, but the security agencies are tackling the matter frontally with the support of the Rivers State Government”, the governor told the panel.
He decried the tendency of opposition politicians to play politics with security, noting that the security challenges in the state were prompted by the politicization of the State Security framework.
Besides that, he observed that the state’s rising revenue profile was a further indication that business was thriving and the state, peaceful.
He declared that before the re-run elections, there was repeated reports of alleged political killings sponsored by misguided politicians, but that since the rerun elections were over, they have changed tactics.
Wike promised to provide necessary support to the panel if they need any during their fact-finding mission, and wished them a peaceful stay and success in their assignment.
In his remarks, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee, Hon. Rimamde Shawulu Kwewum, intimated that the body was in the state on a fact-finding mission following a  petition against the Army by the Civil Liberation Organisation (CLO) on the killings of Ogoni people in their communities.
Hon. Kwewum said the panel was not on a witch-hunt mission but to determine what led to the alleged death of 24 persons during the military invasion.
According to him, “we are not here to defend any political party. The life of any person is important, irrespective of his political party.
The Rep Member informed the governor that the Committee would hold public hearing, and also visit affected communities, which include Yeghe, Zaakpo Bori and Babbe areas invaded by soldiers in February.