statement credited to the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, that the
state police command was exposing the governorship candidate of the
All Progressives Congress, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, to danger by
withdrawing his police details.
Denying the allegation in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, CP Bature
accused the governor of embarking on a smear campaign against the
police because of their refusal to grant the state government's
request to release criminals involved in cases of murder.
Amaechi had raised the alarm over the plot by the Peoples Democratic
Party to assassinate Peterside just as he expressed lack of confidence
in the police in the state.
The governor had accused the police of working for the PDP, saying
while policemen attached to APC members had been withdrawn, those
attached to their counterparts in the PDP remained intact.
But Bature said that the police had merely replaced the C4I operatives
around Peterside with men of the Special Protection Unit.
The C4I is a special police unit trained in Israel to combat violent
crimes in the state.
The police commissioner expressed surprise that Gov. Amaechi could
interpret that to mean withdrawal of police protection for the APC
governorship candidate.
He described Amaechi's allegations as false and delicate.
He said, "The Rivers State Police Command is once again constrained to
respond to the spurious and wispy allegations against it and the false
alarm raised by His Excellency, Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, the
Executive Governor of Rivers State, to the effect that the Command
exposes Hon. Dakuku Peterside to danger by withdrawing policemen
attached to him, and unsubstantiated killings and plan to arrest
supporters of his party.
"It is strongly believed that the vituperations are frustrating signs
of the government's inability to pressure the Command to release
hardened criminals involved in heinous cases of murder, deadly cult
activities, unlawful firearms possession, kidnappings and sundry acts
of lawlessness that ordinarily would have been charged to court, but
for the industrial action of the Rivers State Judiciary.
"Redeployment of C4I Policemen from Hon. Dakuku Peterside to their
traditional duties of fighting violent crimes and their immediate
replacement with the elite Special Protection Unit has now been
attributed to withdrawal of the policemen attached to him.
"Cases of cultists-related clashes that sometime resulted in deaths
have suddenly been attributed to killing of political party
supporters. The alleged killing of seven supporters of a political
party is not only unfounded as the Command has not received such
report.
"What a mathematical wonder! Six suspects arrested and charged to
court for unlawful possessions of firearms have now become over 400
supporters of a political party in our custody.
"The allegation of the purported plan to arrest 307 leaders of a
political party is nothing but a ruse to whip up public sympathy. The
Command has no plan to arbitrarily arrest anybody. Anyone who is not
planning to cause or foster violence or breach public peace has no
cause to fear or raise false alarm".
Reacting to the Bature's statement, the Commissioner for Information
and Communications, Ibim Semenitari, said the police boss was
economical with the truth.
Semenitari said, "The Rivers State Commissioner of Police is
economical with the truth. Everybody knows that Amaechi cannot support
the request that hardened criminals should be released from police
custody.
"Amaechi refused to support amnesty programme because he was not in
support of pampering people who have committed crimes. The whole world
knows that Amaechi does not condone crime.
"It is uncharitable of the CP to say such a thing about the governor.
He (Bature) should focus on the issues. Does the CP mean that the only
criminals in Rivers State belong to the APC?
"The fact of the matter is that the police in Rivers State are
arresting innocent people for no reason and try to hang charges on
them. The police are arresting members of APC in Rivers State for no
reason".
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