Charlez Blog

The Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who has been on lockdown since the Rivers crisis assumed a frightening dimension on Tuesday, has requested the Police Service Commission to redeploy the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu.

Amaechi noted that since the deployment in February 2013, of Mr. Mbu to the state, the security situation had been witnessing a steady decline.
Making his grouses against Mbu known in a petition to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Mike Okiro on Friday, Amechi said only the removal of Mbu would restore the confidence of the people of the state in the Nigeria Police.
The petition was copied to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate President, Mr. David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
The governor’s petition, dated July 9, 2013, reads in part: “On February 13, 2013, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu was posted to Rivers State as the 31st Police Commissioner in the State. His predecessor Mr. Mohammed Ndabawa had served in the state for barely nine months before his replacement with Mr. Mbu.
“I was sworn in as Governor of Rivers State on October 26, 2007. I have worked with four Commissioners of Police prior to Mr. Mbu’s posting to Rivers State during which period Rivers State witnessed a steady decline in insecurity and a gradual return of peace to our state.
“Mr. Mbu is the fifth and present Commissioner of Police in Rivers State since I became Governor. Prior to him, I had worked with Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, Mr.Bala Hassan, Mr. Sulaiman Abba and Mr. Mohammed Ndabawa.
“Regrettably, since after his assumption as Commissioner of Police in February 2013, the security situation began to deteriorate due largely to his approach to the discharge of his responsibility as Commissioner of Police.
“Mr. Mbu, shortly upon assumption of office began to withdraw police security attached to principal officers of the state for reasons that were different from those given by the Assistant Inspector General of Police of Zone 6 during a visit to me.
“Police security attached to the Governor, the Speaker, the Attorney General and key judicial officers were withdrawn without prior notice or justification. This was followed by a daily redeployment of divisional police officers and heads of departments who understood the security dynamics of the state and had held their offices with great commendation.
“A review of the posting and deployment of Divisional Police Officers in Rivers State within the last three months, can attest to this fact.
“Mr. Mbu then proceeded to undermine the security structure which the State Security Council had put in place and which had proven to be most efficient in the last six years.
“Specifically, he immediately terminated the joint police/army patrol, which had been used as a formidable strategy to check violent crime of kidnapping, armed robbery and car snatching in Rivers State.
“All efforts to make him understand the peculiar security challenges in the state that had necessitated the integrated approach to security in the State were rebuffed by him.”