Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase has deployed a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, three Commissioners of Police and 6,000 officers for Saturday’s re-run elections in Rivers State.
The IGP directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of Department of Operations, Sontoye Wakama, to proceed to Rivers to hold meetings with stakeholders and police officers on the need for peaceful conduct before, during and after the election.
Also, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 6 Calabar, Adisa Baba Bolanta has been directed to relocate to Port Harcourt on March 14 for pre-elections preparation.
The Police High Command explained that the deployment is with a view to emplace conducive environment for free, fair and credible election.
A statement in Abuja yesterday by the Force spokesperson Olabisi Kolawole said three Commissioners of Police (CPs) have also been deployed to supervise security arrangements within the three Senatorial Districts of the state, Rivers East, Rivers West and Rivers South East.
In addition to the senior officers, the police boss also stated that 6000 conventional Policemen and 14 Units of Police Mobile Force personnel (MOPOL), would be deployed to compliment the personnel of Rivers State Command during the election.
The IGP, while assuring the electorates of a secured and enabling environment to exercise their franchise, warned all security details to desist from accompanying their principals and politicians to polling booths and collation centres during the election.
He noted that only security personnel specially assigned for election duties must be seen within and around the election designated places.
Former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Chibudom Nwuche yesterday condemned the “brutal and unrestrained” killings going on in Rivers State.
Nwuche asked the Federal Government to urgently intervene in the crisis in order to avert anarchy and further loss of innocent lives in the State.
He insisted that the victims of the killing spree are mostly members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the party’s sympathisers.
The former Deputy Speaker in a statement released in Abuja at the weekend, “bemoaned the fact that Rivers State had, in the last six months, degenerated into a terrible state of barbarism and brigandage with wanton killings, beheadings, brutal assaults, kidnapping, rape, destruction of property and near total breakdown of law and order have become daily occurrences.”
He noted with regret in the statement entitled “Rivers Killing fields: A descent into anarchy” that the unrelenting killing spree unleashed on the state by organised criminal groups has led to the death of several Rivers sons and daughters.
He underscored the fact that even though “the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity are well known to the law enforcement agencies, the perpetrators have somehow always succeeded in evading arrest and prosecution.”
The situation, he said, has invariably led to the loss of further lives and total collapse of human rights and dignity.
While urging the Federal Government to urgently take immediate steps towards bringing to an end “what is now known as the unbridled homicidal killings in Rivers State”, Nwuche condemned “the penchant of high-ranking Rivers State government officials, some sections of the media and Non-Governmental Organisations, as well as some law enforcement personnel to label what are clearly organised crimes against the people as mere cult clashes.”
He said the tendency by these groups of persons to diminish the barrage of horrific and organised acts of criminality currently engulfing the state smacks of cover-up and complicity.
He added, “One would have expected that these groups and individuals to be in the fore-front of efforts to end the ongoing human crises in Rives State, as well as help bring the culprits to book , rather they are spiritedly trying to play down the scope and magnitude of the crises.”
Nwuche asked, “What are these cults? Who are these cultists? Do they include the hundreds of victims of these heinous crimes such as hordes of defenseless and aged men and women killed in Omoku and the fourteen persons recently murdered in cold blood in one fell swoop at Ula Upata, Ahoada East Local Government Area or the 44 person assassinated so far plus sixty-nine persons kidnapped in Ahoada, as well as Kingsley Obi who was beheaded and Chief D. C. Ena who was assassinated in his palace?
“How come these victims are invariably members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or their sympathisers? Why are the victims always un-armed while the perpetrators of these crimes are heavily armed with sophisticated weapons?”
He lamented that as a result of the bloody onslaught, the value of life has greatly diminished in the state under the present Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.
Nwuche noted that a lot of notable persons who ordinarily reside in the state have fled to set up abode in other states out of fear for their lives.
He said it was wrong to categorise him as sponsor of the organised killings for his constructive criticism of the happenings in the state.
Nwuche said he would not be deterred from insisting on the urgent intervention of the Federal Government to curb the obviously sponsored genocidal killings.
He said, “I and other concerned stakeholders have in the past six months, been constructively engaging the authorities and law enforcement agencies in trying to ensure an immediate halt to the mayhem going on in our state.
“No amount of spurious and laughable allegations will stop us from getting the authorities to bring to an end this sad and painful saga in the history of our state, as well as bring the perpetrators to book.”
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