The popular Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway was shut down for several hours on Tuesday by anti-Rotimi Amaechi protesters from the four Ikwerre local governments, comprising Ikwerre, Emohua, Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt, who demonstrated in solidarity with the much-criticised state Police Commissioner, Mbu, Joseph Mbu.
They were protesting against the call by Rivers State Government and its sympathisers that Mbu should be redeployed to another state.
Unlike pro-Amaechi rallies on two previous Sundays in Port Harcourt where policemen and hoodlums allegedly brutalised participants, Tuesday’s demonstrators were protected by the policemen who were present.
This has prompted the All Progressives Congress (APC) to warn of looming anarchy in Rivers State if the current political trend persists.
According to a statement by APC Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, “hoodlums brought in from Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom have gathered at different points in Port Harcourt to protest any attempt to remove Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, the man who is now using the police against the same people they are paid to protect’’.
The demonstrators – indigenes of Ikwerre ethnic nationality – are operating under the auspices of Ikwerre Peoples’ Assembly.
They threatened to shut down all entry points into Rivers State, including the international airport located within the Ikwerre community, all the oil wells, flow stations and oil facilities in any of the four local governments of the Ikwerre ethnic stocks.
The protesters had converged on the GRA Junction, along Aba Road, close to the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) at about 8.30 a.m. and occupied an appreciable portion of the road up to 9.30 a.m., singing and dancing with placards carrying diverse messages.
Some of the placards read: ‘Thank you I-G for leaving Mbu for us’; ‘We have a brother in Jonathan’, ‘A South- South Man Cannot Betray His Brother’; ‘Tinubu Enough is Enough’; ‘We Will Not Support Impunity’; and ‘Leave CP Mbu Alone’.
Spokesman of the group, Chima Boms, said: “CP Mbu in our estimation has performed creditably well and deserves commendation. We therefore request that he continues to serve in Rivers State for the good of the people.
“Consequently, the Ikwerre Peoples’ Assembly will resist any attempt to redeploy CP Mbu as commissioner of police Rivers State as such move will take us back to the dark era.”
Boms added: “The resumption of Mbu as commissioner of police in Rivers State has effectively put to an end to the reign of impunity, lawlessness, harassment and the abuse of the fundamental rights of the citizens by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
“Mbu since resumption of office has demonstrated an uncanny zeal, dexterity and enthusiasm in the art of policing the state, hence the peaceful and serene atmosphere pervasive today in the state, which ironically and indeed inexplicably does not go down well with the Governor of the state.
“Rivers people and indeed Nigerians will recall, prior to the resumption of Mbu as commissioner of police in Rivers State, the indiscriminate arrest and illegal detention, harassment and abuse of the fundamental rights of the citizens by Governor Amaechi.”
The group claimed that in the face of extreme provocation, Mbu has demonstrated a high sense of professionalism in ensuring safety of lives and properties in the state.
“Any redeployment of CP Mbu at this time will be asking for the total shut down of all entry points to Rivers State including the international airport which the Ikwerre people play host to, and all the oil wells, flow stations and oil facilities located in Ikwerre land.”
Tuesday’s peaceful protest was the latest in recent times since the call for the redeployment of Mbu as police commissioner became heightened by the state government and leadership of the state APC.
Only last week, the people of Okrika and Ogu/Bolo staged a peaceful demonstration at the national field, Okrika, in support of President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid and the leadership role of Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike.
However, ACP in its statement in Abuja on Tuesday warned of the impending anarchy in Rivers that may have far-reaching consequences beyond the state, unless the President “urgently reins in his supporters who, backed by a gross-partisan police, have now resorted to bringing in ex-militants from neighbouring states to attack innocent people in Rivers”.
‘’Having lost confidence in the ability of the police to protect them and keenly aware of the President’s deliberate refusal to allow peace to reign in their state, the patience of the people of Rivers is wearing thin, and there is an increasing possibility that they may resort to self help, which can only result in a blood bath,’’ the party cautioned.
It added: ‘’Because we abhor anarchy, which is the very antithesis of democracy, we hereby call for the umpteenth time, on President Jonathan to act today to stop the looming anarchy in Rivers unless of course he is bent on throwing the country he was elected to govern into chaos’’.
APC also warned that the decision of the pro-Jonathan politicians and their supporters in Rivers to resort to ferrying in ex-militants from Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom to cause mayhem in Rivers and make it ungovernable for Governor Chibuike Amaechi will have far-reaching consequences in the months ahead, “most serious of which is that it will revive militancy not only in Rivers but in the entire South-South”.
‘’The ex-militants, who are being hired daily by the anarchists in Rivers today, will turn against them and the people tomorrow when, one way or the other, the present situation in the state is resolved.
“The outcome will be a resurgence of insecurity, including hostage taking and attacks on oil and other infrastructure, in the entire region. This is why we are warning those who believe they are having a free rein today to tarry a while and retrace their steps,’’ the party said.
It expressed shock that a President who has been widely quoted as saying his political ambition was not worth the blood of any citizen is now standing by, “pretending to be oblivious to the happenings around him, as the same citizens’ blood is being used to water his ambition to have a second term in office”.
‘’This President has deliberately refused to listen to the calls by numerous individuals and organisations, including the opposition parties, labour unions and the National Assembly for peace to be allowed to reign in Rivers.
“He has tacitly egged on the police to champion the worsening impunity in the state and even thumbed his nose at the Constitution, while the Police Service Commission has suddenly lost its steam and is even defending the arrowhead of the anarchy in Rivers.
‘’It is instructive that while the police have stood by and allowed hired ex-militants to attack innocent citizens whose only offence is that they are exercising their constitutional rights of freedom of association, movement and speech, the same police have provided protection for pro-Jonathan and anti-Amaechi elements who have turned the state into a battle ground.
‘’Twice in eight days, peaceful rallies organised by the Save Rivers Movement have been brutally broken up by police-backed hoodlums, who shot at innocent citizens, including women and children; a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been shot and is now being treated in a foreign hospital and, as we write this press release, hoodlums brought in from Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom have gathered at different points in Port Harcourt to protest any attempt to remove Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu, the man who is now using the police against the same people they are paid to protect,’’ APC said.
Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also spoke on Tuesday, warning that reports credited to Amaechi that “in spite of security challenges in Bori, Ogoni, occasioned by the aborted APC rally on Sunday that he will dare the police and the people, and lead a rally in Bori Saturday, January 25, 2014 is obviously pushing the Ogoni people to war”.
In a statement, Special Adviser, Media to the state Chairman of the party, Jerry Needam, argued that “rather than threatening to go ahead to hold a rally in Bori, and provoke the people to another round of crisis he (Amaechi) should talk and for once act like a governor by seeking ways to bring about peace in the area and the State, before he proceeds on rally to Bori or any other part of the state”.