Prominent pro-democracy advocates, the Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has backed the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara for foiling an attempt by the Nigerian Police, allegedly led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), to take over the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) at 1 am on Friday.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
HURIWA also carpeted the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, for allegedly becoming a party in the ongoing battles for political relevance and supremacy between the Rivers state governor and the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, who is the FCT minister.
A statement sent to THE WHISTLER on Friday by the group’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, asked the IGP of Police to decide if he wants to remove his uniform and join the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a registered card-carrying member or perform his constitutional duty.
The group wondered why the IGP would dabble into the political struggles in Rivers State on behalf of a “self-acclaimed political godfather of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike,” when he is not a politician.
The group advised the police to “behave like professionals rather than always acting as the armed thugs of the All Progressives Congress.”
HURIWA’s statement followed a reported invasion of RSIEC at 1 am on Friday by the police and some miscreants who attempted to take over the office to prevent the conduct of the LG elections on Saturday.
However, the plot was botched when the state governor, Sim Fubara was alerted and immediately rushed to the commission’s office.
The Governor led a team of government officials, lawmakers from the National Assembly and State House of Assembly, top political stakeholders, and other leaders to the facility, where he fumed over the IG’s partisan role in the political struggles in the state.
Fubara vowed that the election would be held and informed the IG that Rivers people do not need the police for the election.
Reacting to the development, HURIWA condemned the nighttime invasion and likened it to an illegal operation. The group therefore demanded the immediate arrest of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (operations), whom the group said coordinated the attempted takeover of the state facility.
“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,” HURIWA said.
The group vowed to “continue to warn the Police to steer clear of 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 has anything like a credible or professional policing institution because if the police of Nigeria now behave like the armed wing of All Progressives Congress 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.”
According to the group, “These illegal acts of treachery by the police are attracting global opprobrium and bad image in the comity of nations for Nigeria.”