Wike accuses IGP Ibrahim Idris of deploying officers that will compromise security in Rivers

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike says the people of the state have mobilised to resist rigging of elections in the oncoming rerun election.

Governor Wike, who spoke at the 56th annual general conference of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, in Port Harcourt said the plans by some politicians and the INEC to thwart democratic process would fail. He urged the NBA to speak up against the injustices meted out on the Rivers State government and the people of the state by some politicians and security operatives.

He further spoke on the efforts by the police to shield some persons who are facing criminal charges in the state.
He accused the Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris of deliberately deploying officers that will compromise security in Rivers state.
Wike was quoted as saying, “On March 21 2016, the entire world heard from INEC that it had totally cancelled and called-off the re-run elections in eight local government areas of the Rivers State, including Tai Local Government Area, at about 1100 hours due to widespread irregularities and violence.
“Five months after, the same INEC has now turned 360 degrees to claim that they now have collated results of the re-run for Tai Local Government Area, for an election that was publicly cancelled and therefore, never held in the first place.

“In their characteristic manner, they ignored our protest, and have, instead, informed us that they will use the fabricated results, which undeservedly placed their adopted candidates at an advantage over and above other more viable candidates in that constituency despite a restraining order from the High Court.
“Now, is this not political robbery acting out so shamelessly? Is INEC under Professor Mahmud not guilty of duplicity and odious conduct? What behavior from an electoral body can be more obnoxious and provocative than this one? How can anyone place his or her trust on INEC to conduct free and fair rerun elections in Rivers State?
“Five days ago, the Nigerian Police deceitfully took sides in an internal party dispute to prevent the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding its elective convention in Port Harcourt despite the existence of orders from two judges of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court, directing the Inspector General of Police, who was a party on record, to secure and protect the convention and which orders were duly served on the Police.
“The attempt by the Nigerian Police to explain away or to justify this scandalous action on the subsequent and prejudiced orders of Justice Okon Abang of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court flies in the face of logic and the law.
“The Honourable Justice Okon Abang sat until about 1700 hours, took a short break, and delivered his controversial judgment at about 1800 hours, at which time the Convention venue had already been sealed by a large contingent of security personnel personally led by the Rivers State Commissioner of Police (CP) and the State Director of the Department of State Security (DSS). The question is: when was the enrolled order prepared, vetted, signed, served and or transmitted to the Police in Port Harcourt for enforcement in a matter in which they were never sued or joined as parties?
“And because a PDP convention must be prevented from holding, the lives and property of Rivers people became inconsequential in the reckoning of the CP and the DSS.
“That was why in their desperation to enforce an insidious “order from above” they threw caution to the wind, and against every sense of rationality, mobilized the entire fleet of Armoured Personnel Carriers and other operational vehicles from other parts of the State to the the Port Harcourt Civic Centre just to prevent a harmless party meeting from holding, and in the process left an entire State literally exposed and vulnerable to the mercy of criminals.
“For us, there is nothing surprising about the treacherous actions of the CP, the DSS and their collaborators. At any rate, we are more than convinced that these are tell tale signs of what they and INEC would unleash at the people of Rivers State during the re-run legislative elections they have promised us, would hold few weeks from now.
“But as they regale over their ‘conquest’ of the Port Harcourt Civic Centre on that ill-fated day, let them not forget that, in matters of elections, Rivers people are sufficiently mobilized to resist any rigging arrangements at the pending re-run elections. A word, they say should be enough for the wise!
“All too often, State Governors are unduly blamed for security challenges in States. But we all know that Governors are all but fictional Chief Security Officers, relevant only for the financial support they could give to an operationally challenged security substructure.
“In Rivers State, politics and partisan considerations now determine the posting of senior security officers to the State. In particular, having signed-in unto the unholy conspiracy to undermine our administration, the Security High Command in Abuja prefers to make deployments that are intended to shore up the political fortunes of a degraded political opposition at the expense of providing effective security cover to the State and its people.
“With an average turnover of less than three months, the present CP is the fifth police chief they have posted to Rivers State since we assumed office.
“Recently, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), despite our protestations, posted some questionable senior police officers to command and control very critical security formations in the State. While we acknowledge the IGP’s right to post and transfer at his will, the concerns we raised about the character and competence of these particular officers and the motive behind their sudden redeployment to Rivers State are legitimate and remain unaddressed.
“We strongly believe that by their behavioral antecedents and unabated hostility towards our government, these characters would rather work hard to sabotage and compromisepeace and security in Rivers State in order to satisfy the demands of the political opposition that procured their posting, and for which interest they had and are still committed to promote and protect. Consequently, we hope the world would know whom and where to hold responsible should the security situation suddenly deteriorates in Rivers State.”