Group slams IGP for alleged Involvement In Rivers crisis; tells him to remove uniform join APC – Crime Channels

Group slams IGP for alleged Involvement In Rivers crisis; tells him to remove uniform join APC

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has criticised the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over the ongoing crisis surrounding the local government elections in Rivers State.

The election, set for October 5, has been marred by controversy, with both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) choosing to boycott the process.

Despite the boycotts, Governor Siminalayi Fubara remains determined to proceed with the election. However, the Nigeria Police have announced they will not provide security for the exercise.

Governor Fubara has accused the IGP of siding with his political opponents and undermining the state’s interests. He alleged that the IGP ordered the withdrawal of police officers assigned to secure the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and brought in officers from a neighboring state to seize election materials.

In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA condemned the IGP’s actions, claiming he has become a participant in the political power struggle between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who was once his key ally.

The statement reads: “We urge the IGP of Police Kayode Egbetokun to decide if he wants to remove his uniform and then join the All Progressives Congress as a registered card carrying member rather than wear the uniform paid for by taxpayers most of whom don’t belong to any political persuasions, and then only for the IGP to dabble into the political fisticuffs in Rivers State on behalf of the self acclaimed political godfather of Rivers State Barrister Nyesom Wike. The police in Rivers state controlled from the office of IGP in Abuja, must behave like professionals.

“We view this brazen attack on the soul of democracy in Rivers state by the partisan Nigeria Police as an attempted coup which must not be swept under the carpets of impunity. We will continue to warn the Nigeria Police to steer off politics and operate in compliance to the constitutional provisions which created the Policing institution to enforce law and order and not to be deployed for political parties’ supremacy battles to advance the ambitions of certain individuals only because they are affiliated to the All Progressives Congress which is the party in power at the centre.

“The Nigeria Police Force has continued to give Nigerians reasons to doubt that the country even have anything like a credible or professional policing institution because if the police of Nigeria now behaves like the armed wing of a party and then dabble into controversies around the Rivers Local Government elections, we the people of Nigeria will automatically assume that we don’t have a complete professional police in existence. These vexatious, toxic, unconstitutional harassment of the Rivers state governor and the brazen, lawless, reckless efforts to take over democratic institutions by the police in Rivers state are only drawing us back to the days of the military dictatorship and these illegal acts of treachery by the police are attracting global opprobrium and bad image in the community of nations for Nigeria.”