The kinsmen of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan’s native Okrika community has threatened to shut down Port Harcourt Refinery if the Rivers State Commissioner for Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, is redeployed from the state.
Eight different groups, representing eight ethnic communities of Okrika, including Ogu/Bolo Patriotic Front, Bolo Progressive Forum, Kirike Bese Movement, Wakirike Development Foundation, Wakirike Student Union, Sekimo Youth Movement, Wakirike Elders Forum and Okrika United Front, rallied yesterday in Okrika, insisting that Mbu is a professional police officer who has performed very well and should not be removed from the state.
The groups, which converged at the Okrika National Field, carried placards bearing various inscriptions such as: “Mbu must stay”; “He is a professional”; “We are tired of Amaechi’s grandstanding, looting and insult”, “No Mbu, no access to Port Harcourt Refinery.”
They also commended the police commissioner for his dedication to duty in their solidarity messages. Different speakers, who spoke at the solidarity rally, described him as a very diligent, hard working police officer who is not ready to be used to intimidate political opponents of the Rotimi Amaechi’s administration.
The groups insisted that they would shut down the Port Harcourt Refinery, located in Okrika land, if Mbu is removed as the state’s commissioner of police.
The call for Mbu’s removal was drummed up during the botched All Progressives Party, APC/ Save Rivers Movement, SRM, which the police dispersed at the Rivers State College of Arts and Sciences, Rumuola, Port Harcourt.
The political tension in Rivers State, which got to a climax in April last year when an Abuja High Court sacked the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) executive led by Godspower Ake, was heightened last week following the alleged shooting of Senator Magnus Abe at the rally organized by the Save Rivers Movement.
Speaking on behalf of the Ogu/Bolo Patriotic Front, Ngo Blessing stated: “Mbu is a professional policeman. Since his redeployment to Rivers State, he has done very well. Before now, Rivers people were being intimidated by the agents of government, but when he came in, all this stopped. The commissioner must stay and continue to do the good work he is doing in the state.”
Felix Amaesimaka, who spoke on behalf of Sekimo Youth Movement, said the call for Mbu’s removal is politically motivated and threatened that Okrika being major stakeholders in the Nigerian economy, will not fold their hands and watch an innocent person harassed and intimidated.
He alleged that Senator Magnus Abe was not shut by the police, adding that the senator is acting a script written by the Amaechi-led administration in the state. “We challenge Senator Abe to show prove of the gunshot he is claiming. We want him to prove that to us,” he said.
The groups later met with ex-militant leader, Tom Ateke, who promised to convey their massage to the Presidency. “I will take your message to President Goodluck Jonathan. My brothers and sisters, please, conduct yourselves peacefully and go home to meet your families.
“Do not be violent in your protest against the call for the removal of Mbu. We will make sure that the evil plans of those who don’t wish Rivers State well does not succeed,” Ateke said.