By Damilare Adeleye
The Nigeria Police Force has disagreed recent statements made by the Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State over the state Local government elections slated for October 5.
In a statement issued on Friday night, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer, said several allegations leveled against the Office of the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force by the governor were unfounded.
He stated that, “Firstly, it is important to clarify that there is a subsisting Federal High Court order barring the Nigeria Police Force from participating in the Rivers State elections. This order was duly served on both the NPF and the Rivers State Government. As a law-abiding institution, the IGP instructed the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State to strictly adhere to this court order by refraining from any direct involvement in the election process.
“However, in the evening of 3rd October,2024, The commissioner of police Rivers State, received reports that policemen from Rivers State Government house have been deployed to the office of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RIEC) to aid the conduct of the election. This report was also relayed to the Inspector-General of Police who gave clearance to the Commissioner of Police to withdraw the policemen from the Government house and replace with policemen from the Command Operations department. The mandate of the men from the Operations Department, was to provide overnight security for the RIEC to prevent any attack on the facility.
“It is also important to note that prior to this, there had been series of security breaches in the state following the spate of court orders and counter orders and reactions to them by supporters of the different political parties involved. The response of the Command to secure RIEC overnight was therefore professional and supported by the Inspector-General of Police. For emphasis sake, the policemen deployed to RIEC from the operations department of Rivers State Command on the night of 3rd Oct,” Adejobi added.
Governor Fubara had earlier slammed the Inspector-General of Police for being ‘unprofessional’ after some some officeers stormed RIEC office in early hours of Friday.
The governor said: “But, I have to say this , we’ve been taking enough nonsense from this institution (Police). Everybody is aware of the court judgement. And even the court judgement, did the ruling specify anywhere that the election should not hold? It says don’t give voter register, what are we doing with that? Police, don’t provide security, is it the same thing as blocking the election? I don’t know the relationship between the Inspector-General of Police and one person who claims he has so much power in this state. I don’t know the relationship. It is going beyond the normal professional relationship. I said the government wrote a letter with the judgement that we have and what he’s acting on,is what he called the judgement they got from the federal high court. Even if we should go by the judgement by the Federal High Court, did it say the election should be barred? Lifu, the Justice that gave that fraudulent judgement, did he say no election? He technically say, don’t provide security. We don’t need your security. We’ll provide our own security.”