More than his core area of security, new Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, has a lot to do, especially in weathering the storm of the state’s intricate politics, Assistant Editor (South South), JOE EZUMA, reports.
Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, is, ordinarily, not a stranger to developments in the state. He had served in various capacities in the state’s command, including functioning as Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the socially-fragile zone of Eleme. These experiences, many argue, should have counted for him in his coming as the state’s chief cop.
The road, however, may not be smooth for him. He has many issues to battle with, chief of which is the ability to evade the acrimonious tendencies that characterise Rivers politics. Successive commissioners of police in the state, in recent times, had incidentally not escaped being dragged into the state’s politics, in one way or another.
These included Mbu Joseph Mbu, Tunde Ogunsakin, Bature and, more recently, Hosea Karma, who served briefly. Given the uncanny ways the officers had been caught in the crossfire of political developments in the state, analysts have often described Rivers as the waterloo of police commissioners. While Ezike’s predecessors were there, they bore the brunt of the APC administration which accused them of partisanship.
Incidentally, the APC in the state also accused the police, the army, the para-military and other security agencies of aiding PDP in election rigging or condoning the atrocities committed by PDP members and supporters.
Residents also note that the other issue the new police boss may have to contend with include the discontent among officers of the state origin who have been brooding silently over “exclusion” from strategic positions in the state command, while officers from outside are made to occupy the juicy positions. In fact, that he is among the police officers from the South East to head the command since after the Civil War makes his appointment intriguing and interesting.
There is also the core security issues that he has to address. These, our correspondent learnt, include armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, incidences of assassination and sundry crimes which he had mapped out strategies to combat in his first week in the state.
But the current battle by members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, following the Federal High Court nullification of the May 23, 2015 election that brought the council chairmen and their councillors into office is another issue that is seen as a huge challenge to the police commissioner and his men.
Based on allegations by PDP that the hurriedly-staged poll by the immediate past Rotimi Amaechi administration negated all rules, the court ordered the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) not to organise the election. But the RSIEC went ahead to conduct the exercise. The court presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi had declared that RISIEC flagrantly disobeyed the law by conducting the election. Consequent upon the judgment delivered on July 9, 2015, Governor Nyesom Wike promptly swore in 22 caretaker chairmen for the affected 22 local government areas.
As events began to move fast, the police sealed up premises of the councils the following day, Friday, July 10, as men and officers of the Rivers State police command, acting upon the order of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, barricaded the main gates of the various local government secretariats across the state. This move brought the council members and some supporters of the APC chairmen, whose elections were annulled, to clash with the police.
Sealing the councils, on the other hand, touched on the raw nerve of the PDP, which accused the police of playing double standard by the action. The party accused the police of partisanship and working in collaboration with the APC.
But commenting on the development, the command’s public relations officer, Ahmad Muhammad, said police acted to save lives and property.
Even with the police action, the PDP and APC have not ceased throwing accusations and counter-accusations to each other. PDP had, for instance, claimed that following the court ruling that swept off the APC chairmen and councillors, the sacked council members had embarked on the vandalism and looting of council properties.
While APC was making efforts to get reversal of the sack order from the Industrial Arbitration Court in Yenagoa, the PDP continued to dig in by establishing itself in the councils.
Wike had, for example, directed the caretaker chairmen to resume in their various offices that Friday, only to be confronted by heavy presence of the police personnel, barring movements into the secretariats.
Apparently concerned at the turn of events, the governor had also alerted the people of the state of the action of the police, expressing worries that the law enforcement agency could act contrary to the decision of a court which nullified the local council poll.
However, Rivers APC chairman, Davies Ikanya, said the party had no hand in the police taking over the local government secretariats.
“The accusation is watery, baseless and without foundation. APC, as a party, has nothing to do with the police taking over the local government secretariats in Rivers State. We are not a lawless party like PDP that used the police and other security organs to make the state virtually ungovernable during their time in power at the centre,” he said.
The APC chairman further claimed that the party had always been known as a party that respected and advocated strict adherence to the rule of law, adding that there was no way it would suddenly turn around to do otherwise.
Arase steps in
In apparent move to save the situation from further degeneration, the IGP, on Saturday, July 11, 2015, ordered the withdrawal of police from the entrances into the 23 local government secretariats in the state.
Two days later, the battle shifted to the Industrial Arbitration Court in Yenagoa which failed to hear the plea of the 23 elected APC chairmen against their removal by Governor Wike. Justice James Agbadu-Fishim, in his ruling, fixed definite hearing of the case on October 6, during which he expects both parties to assemble their facts and appear for legal battle.
On the conflicting reports about the Yenagoa court ruling which saw some in Port Harcourt celebrating that the court had reinstated the sacked APC chairmen, Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Emmanuel Aguma (SAN), debunked the claim by some politicians that the industrial court had set aside the order of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt.
‘’The industrial court did not set aside the decision of the Federal High Court because no such application was before the court. The court never reinstated any local government chairman anywhere, Rivers State inclusive, because no such application was before the court,’’ Aguma explained. Uncertainty, thus, prevails in the state.