Rivers State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, has said that he was not prepared to ‘throw in the towel’ because of the political crisis rocking the state.
Mbu explained that he had no reason to surrender since he had been investigated and cleared by the police high command and the Police Service Commission.
The state police commissioner was responding to questions from the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Paulinus Igwe, who led members of his committee, including Senator Hadi Sirike, on a fact-finding mission to the state.
Rivers had been embroiled in an unending political crisis since April 2013, a development that led to the shooting of a lawmaker representing Rivers South East, Senator Magnus Abe, on Sunday in Port Harcourt.
Mbu, however, told the Senate committee that he decided to turn down the request for a rally because the state government sold a dummy to him on two occasions.
He explained that the state government had applied for a permit to organise an empowerment programme, but later organised an All Progressives Congress rally.
Mbu insisted that his relationship with Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is cordial. “We exchange text messages frequently on the security situation in the state. We speak to one another anytime there is need for us to do so,” the police boss said.
Thepolice boss said that he turned down the request for a permit to converge at the venue of the proposed rally because on the two occasions they applied for police permit “they sold us a dummy. They applied for a permit to organize a welfare empowerment at the Liberation Stadium at Elekahia, in Port Harcourt, and I granted it because I believed what they said they wanted to do.
“Any person in the position of authority should support welfare programmes designed to help the poor, the sick and the under -privileged. But what happened? We in the command were surprised when we realized it was an APC declaration rally.”