The All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned the tacit defence of the Rivers State Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu by the Police Service Commission (PSC), saying the commission, by its unimaginative action, was only pandering to the Presidency which is the sponsor of the impunity in the state.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered if the PSC understands the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as far as the role of a police commissioner is concerned.
''For the avoidance of doubt, we quote Section 215 (4) of the Constitution, which stipulates: 'Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such Commissioner of the Government of the State as he may authorize in that behalf, may give to Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with'.''
APC said if the PSC clearly understood the stipulation, it would not only be talking of Mbu being redeployed but should by now be justifying the dismissal of the impudent police boss, who has continuously violated the Constitution not only by refusing to take lawful orders but by also constituting himself into the opposition, the de facto chairman of the PDP, in Rivers.
''If the PSC wants to be truthful, it will admit that no one but the police commissioner has politicized his own office. It will also admit that no one has asked the police commissioner to be the Governor's errand boy, as claimed by the PSC, but to simply carry out his duties as stipulated by the Constitution. If the PSC still does not understand, it should tell Nigerians in which other state of the federation is a police commissioner usurping the role of the Governor as the Chief Security Officer of the state,'' the party said.
It described as disingenuous the decision of the PSC to hing its shameful inaction in the face of the madness being perpetrated by the Rivers police boss on a suit against the commission and the commissioner, saying no court case has prevented the commission from carrying out its statutory duties
''The truth is that the embarrassing situation in Rivers has persisted because the Presidency is the sole sponsor and it does not want peace to reign. The moment President Goodluck Jonathan decides to uphold the Constitution in accordance with his oath of office, Mbu will not last one day on the job.
''The PSC that has now taken it upon itself to defend Mbu and even remind Nigerians how some people have been praising him for doing a good job - all in a bid by the pliant commission to impress the presidency - knows that this President is never hindered by a suit when he decides to pursue his own agenda, as he is doing in Rivers. In case the PSC has forgotten, President Jonathan suspended former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, from office even when his case was in court.
''In any case, one million PSCs will not have been able to save Mbu if his partisanship in Rivers has been in favour of Gov.Chibuike Amaechi. The PSC should therefore spare Nigerians its annoying sophistry and stop hiding behind one finger. The truth is that nothing can justify the police-backed lawlessness, harassment of innocent citizens, disrespect for constituted authority and outright thuggery being perpetrated in Rivers.
''Nigerians know the puppeteer in the Rivers crisis. Nigerians know why the PSC has been 'handicapped' in Rivers despite the unprecedented misconduct of the state's police boss. Therefore, any attempt by anyone, including the spokesperson of the PSC, to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians will fall flat!,'' APC said.
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