The Commissioner of the Rivers State Police Command, Dan Bature has said that Governor Chibuike Amaechi has being raising false alarm against the Command because he refused to bow to pressure to release hardened criminals involved in heinous cases of murder, deadly cult activities, unlawful possession of firearms, kidnappings and sundry acts of lawlessness that ordinarily would have been charged to court but for the industrial action of the Rivers state judiciary.
In a strongly worded press statement signed by the CP Dan Bature, he said: “It is strongly believed that the vituperations are frustrating signs of the Government’s inability to pressure the Command to release hardened criminals involved 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”.
The CP said he has restrained himself from joining issues with the state governor but is once again constraint to respond to what he called “the spurious and wispy allegations against it and false alarm raised by His Excellency, Rt Hon. Chibuike R. Amaechi, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, to the effect that the Command exposes Hon. Dakuku Peterside, the Rivers State’s All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate to danger by withdrawing policemen attached to him, unsubstantiated killings and plan to arrest supporters of his party”.
He denied ever withdrawing the police cover to Dakuku Peterside as alleged by the Governor.He said that it is on record that since he assumed duty as the Commissioner of Police six months ago, he has remained focused and committed to performing my constitutional duties and responsibilities of protecting lives and property amongst others. And has refused to be provoked or drawn in unnecessary responses to the avalanche of unsubstantiated allegations, in most cases wild imaginations that are predicated in falsehood that seem to be the penchant of the State Government.
Bature said he do not intend to dignify the false alarms raised in the recent press briefing by the State Government, but it is necessary to put records straight.
On the recent redeployment of C4i Policemen from Hon. Dakuku Peterside a few days after the Rivers PDP called for its disbandment on allegation that it has been engaged in terror activities, Bature explained that the C4i unit were redeployed to their traditional duties of fighting violent crimes and their immediate replacement with the elite Special Protection Unit (SPU) has now been attributed to withdrawal of the policemen attached to him.
He dismissed claimed by Amaechi that APC supporters were politically assassinated or hounded to prison at the behest of the state PDP. He wondered why cases of cultists’ related clashes that sometimes resulted in deaths have suddenly been attributed to killing of political party supporters.
The CP said the alleged killing of seven supporters of a political party is not only unfounded as the Command has not received such report.
He also wondered “arrests made on cases of unlawful possession of firearms, robbery, cultism and murder are now attributed to politics. 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”.
He debunked the allegation of the purported plan to arrest 307 leaders of a political party is nothing but a ruse to whip up public sympathy.
Bature said the Command has no plan to arbitrarily arrest anybody.But that anyone who is not planning to cause or foster violence or breach of public peace has no cause to fear or raise false alarm.
He cautioned that on security matters, “we should be mindful of the fact that security issues are not matters for comical entertainment”.
The CP said the Command remains focused in its mandate to serve and protect the people and overall interest of the State. No amount of distractions would deter us from performing our constitutional assigned roles, please.
