The Rivers State Police Command on Sunday denied allegations that its personnel shot and wounded a member of the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe.
Its spokesman, Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, that the police did not dispense any bullet while dispersing a rally by Save Rivers Movement on Sunday.
Muhammad said the group was at the state College of Arts and Science for the rally when they were dispersed because they did not obtain a police permit.
He said: “I can confirm to you that Senator Magnus Abe was not shot.
“The police did not expend any single bullet while dispersing the crowd.
“It is not true.
“The police did not shoot the senator.
“We only used minimum force to disperse the crowd at the venue of the rally.”
The Rivers State Government had alleged that Abe was shot by the police at the venue of the rally.
Ibim Semenitari, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, made the accusation in a statement on Sunday in Port Harcourt.
The state government said the shooting of Abe showed the desperation of the Peoples Democratic Party in its bid to silence opposing views.
It demanded for the redeployment of the state Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu.
Semenitari said: “Today’s attack on members of the Save Rivers Movement, a non governmental association, at the College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and especially the unprovoked shooting of Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, the senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, is cause for worry and an indication of the length that the PDP is willing to go to silence opposing views.
“Rivers State Government therefore reiterates its call for the re-deployment of CP Mbu from Rivers State before he turns the state into a graveyard because of his intolerance and unprofessional behaviour.
The commissioner said that the state government would continue to protect the interest of the people at all times.
“We appeal to our people to remain law abiding and not to take the laws into their own hands as we promise to continue to use all legitimate and legal means to guarantee the safety of our people and their rights to exist in Nigeria,” she said.
The Press Secretary to Abe, Honour Sirawoo, said a rubber bullet hit Abe on the chest and he was taken to hospital for treatment.
Sirawoo said Abe had gone to supervise the preparations for the rally when the incident occurred at about 9am on Sunday.
Dr. Mckay Anyanwu, the Medical Director of Krisany Hospital, where Abe was rushed to for treatment, told newsmen that the senator was brought to the hospital in a state of shock caused by low blood pressure.
Anyanwu said: “He was unable to talk or eat and he was feeling restless as a result of traumatic shock.
“The implication is that there is haemorrhage.
“This is a blood trauma.
“It is not a sharp one.”
But the The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress is insisting that Abe was shot.
It said it is shocked and shattered by the news of the unwarranted shooting of Abe and Chief Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and the killing of five children of Rivers State extraction by men of the Nigeria Police.
A statement by the Interim Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, and the Interim State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said the APC did not at first believe the news until it was verified.
It said like any other right-thinking individual, the party could not understand why policemen paid with taxpayers’ money could turn their guns against the people, including prominent citizens who are well known to them, thus ruling out the possibility of a mistake in the said shooting.
The statement said: “We wish to unequivocally condemn this premeditated murder of our five children and attempted murder of two prominent and innocent Rivers citizens by the State Police Command, which seems happy to transform into an army of occupation instead of discharging its constitutional role of safeguarding lives and property. This is a declaration of war on Rivers State and its people.
“We are holding the State Police Commissioner, CP Joseph Mbu, responsible for the deaths of five innocent kids that maybe our future political leaders by this agents of darkness and the attempted murder on Senator Abe and Chief Okocha since the shooting was carried out by a team of regular police and Mobile policemen from MOPOL 19 on the orders of CP Mbu. Acting on CP Mbu’s orders, the trigger-happy policemen had stormed the APC rally organised by the Save Rivers Movement at the College of Arts and Science, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, and started shooting rubber bullets and teargas canisters to disperse the crowd. One of the rubber bullets hit Senator Abe, who fell to the ground and would have died instantly if his aides had not quickly grabbed him and rushed him to a hospital in D/Line in Port Harcourt. It is reported that the case of the Senator is very critical and arrangement is being made by Governor Amaechi to fly him out for medical attention if
he recovers from coma. Chief Okocha’s case is a bit better as he was only shot on his legs and may be crippled for life if urgent attention is not given to him.
“The police ordered everybody to vacate the venue. Several persons were injured as they scampered for safety. The police insisted that the rally must not hold, claiming that it would constitute a breach of the peace – a very spurious claim. And we are talking of a rally aimed at mobilising the public on the agenda of a political Movement, of which the police was duly informed!
“We have shouted ourselves hoarse that CP Mbu is on a mission to cause mayhem and insecurity in Rivers State but, sadly, the powers that brought him to Rivers State for this mission not only continued to sustain him but also continued to empower him in his acts of impunity in Rivers State. This single man has on various occasions abused, insulted and vilified our elected State Governor in the person of Gov. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, claiming that he (Mbu) is the Chief Security Officer of Rivers State and not the Governor as stipulated by the Constitution of the Federal Republic!
“This single man has on various occasions given police cover to GDI, the political pressure group of President Goodluck Jonathan and Supervising Minister for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, while denying the same services to other political groups in Rivers State, including Save Rivers State Movement while we sustain the Police with Rivers State fund. This single man since he came to Rivers State has promoted criminality in various ways and has even made himself a member of PDP, attending their meetings!
“The National Assembly has found this man guilty and asked for his redeployment to no avail! The Rivers State Government and various pressure groups have called for his redeployment to no avail, all because the Federal Government is bent on using him to cause a war in Rivers State!
“In view of the foregoing, we wish to make it clear that the blood of the five innocent kids that were slaughtered by the Police are on CP Mbu’s head and also on the heads of his sponsors. We meanwhile appeal to Nigerians to join us in praying for the survival of Senator Abe and Chief Okocha. By God’s grace, we shall overcome as the plot of intimidation will not deter us from salvaging Rivers State from the PDP led Federal Government whose hatred and disdain on our people are now legendary.
“Dr Ikanya demands for the immediate release of Hon. Ike Chinwo within 24 hours unfailingly who was arrested by the Police after the mayhem for no just cause.”
Meanwhile, the ACP at the national level has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently put an end to the worsening reign of impunity in Rivers State, which is being carried out under his watch by those who are obviously acting to impress him and the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the call has become even more imperative, following the irresponsible act of brigandage by the police, which stopped a peaceful and lawful rally billed for the Obio Akpor Local Government Area of the state on Sunday by the Save Rivers Movement, an organisation campaigning against the impunity of the PDP-controlled Federal Government against the government and people of Rivers State.
The statement said: “The police went to the venue of the rally, pulled down the erected canopies and fired tear gas at everyone around there and even into nearby homes, with the result that five children are now feared to have died from suffocation due to this shameful Gestapo-style action
of the police, who are being funded by taxpayers to protect the lives and property of the same citizens they are now brutalizing and killing.
“Not only that, they injured the Chief of Staff to Governor Chibuike Amaechi and fired a supposed rubber bullet, at point blank range, at Senator Magnus Abe, who is now gravely injured. The Senator is believed to have been deliberately targeted for attack by the police.
“We understand that the exceptional brutal clampdown on the planned rally by the police, who seem to have now surpassed even their own act of brutality against the people of the state, was aimed at impressing the First Lady, believed to be due in Port Harcourt on the same day (Sunday).”
The APC said there is no way a Commissioner of Police in any state will be so bold as to be waging a war against an elected governor and his aides/supporters if he is not empowered to do so by higher authorities, and that everyone knows that the impenitent Rivers Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu believes he is now the de facto governor of Rivers State because he has the support of the Presidency to exhibit impudence.
The party added in the statement: “Mbu, who is going down in Nigeria’s history as a classic example of an officer of the law turned the biggest violator of the law, has not only defied the resolutions of the National Assembly, he has also thumbed his nose at the ultimatum issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). He is the Alternate Inspector General of the Police who takes orders only from a conniving presidency.”
It said the only reason the impunity in Rivers State could have continued unabated is because it is a dress rehearsal for what is being planned for 2015, hence the APC has continued to raise the alarm over the instigated crisis in Rivers.
The party said: “Since this reign of impunity started, the Rivers Governor has been barred from accessing his official residence by the police; Members of the State House of Assembly have been tear-gassed and harassed endlessly; the plane owned by the state government has been grounded,
using the institutions of state; and even a chartered plane bearing the Governor has been prevented from takeoff, not minding that the member of the state House of Assembly which the plane was supposed to be carrying was not on board. No one has apologized for this chutzpah.
“This is all happening under the watch of a President who has been widely quoted as saying his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. The statement now rings hollow, considering what is happening in Rivers and elsewhere, which is widely regarded as a sign of things to come ahead of 2015.
“President Jonathan should act today to bring Rivers State and indeed Nigeria back from the brink of lawlessness. His body language must discourage the likes of Mbu from turning Nigerian into a lawless nation. He must differentiate his position as the leader of the PDP from his perch as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
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