Police would have been accused of taking side in Rivers crisis if… – IGP

Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said the police would have been accused of taking sides in the post-election crisis in Rivers State if they had not unsealed the council secretariats after the local election in the oil-rich state.

Police operatives took over the 23 local government council secretariats in the state in June following a violent clash between supporters of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and those of his predecessor, Nyesom Wike. The clash led to the death of two persons, including a police operative.

The crisis followed the refusal of Mr Wike-backed elected officials to vacate office after their three-year tenure came to an end in June, prompting Mr Fubara to move in, apparently to enforce it.

Since then, the police sealed up the 23 council secretariats to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Mr Wike, the FCT minister, are fighting each other over the control of the political structure in Rivers.

Rivers local elections

In addition to the political crisis, the police were criticised for their actions in the days leading to the 5 October local elections in the state.

The police faced conflicting court orders for and against its participation in the election.

Two Federal High Courts based in Abuja barred the police from providing security for the election but a Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, directed the police to perform their constitutional duties during the election.

Mr Fubara visited the headquarters of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) in Port Harcourt about 24 hours before the election, where he allegedly foiled an attempt by the police to “cart away” materials meant for the election.

On the eve of the election, the police barred operatives from providing security, but Mr Fubara insisted that the election would go on as scheduled.

Mr Egbetokun told Vanguard newspaper on Tuesday that the police were preparing for the election when the court orders came.

“As IGP, I sent the three different court orders to our legal department because we have very sound lawyers, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, for advice. The advice was that we should go with the Federal High Court order and stay off.

“Because all our operations are guided by the rule of law. I wrote the governor, intimating to him of this decision to stay off the election and that policemen would not be involved.

“Before then we had intelligence that some persons were planning to attack and burn down the SIEC. So, the next day, policemen were deployed to the Rivers State Electoral Commission (Rivers SIEC) to protect the commission,” Mr Egbetokun said, dismissing allegations that the operatives were at the commission headquarters to “cart away” election materials.

“The next day, the governor came out making all sorts of allegations, including saying that Police were there to tamper with election materials, which was unexpected.

Post-election crisis

For the election, the chairmanship candidates of the Action Peoples Party won in 22 local councils, while Action Alliance won in one.

Mr Fubara inaugurated the new chairpersons on 6 October, a day after the election.

The following day, 7 October, the police announced the unsealing of the 23 council secretariats in the state, which they had taken over since June.

Hours after the police announcement, hoodlums, who were dissatisfied with the conduct of the election, set ablaze council secretariats in Eleme, Ikwerre, and Emohua, prompting President Bola Tinubu to direct the police to restore and maintain order in the oil-rich state.

Mr Egbetokun said the police would have been accused of taking sides in the crisis if they did not vacate the council secretariats after the election.

“After the election of the LG chairmen, if we had remained and continued to seal the LGs, we would have been accused of taking sides. That is why we withdrew our men from the secretariats.

“However, following the outbreak of violence, and Mr President directed that we restore order, we went back and did so. So, the police only obeyed court orders in its actions,” the police chief said.