RIVERS State Governor, Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi, has dared the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, to
shoot him whenever he embarks on a demonstration against him (CP) and
the Federal Government.
Mbu had placed a ban on any form of
demonstration, procession or rally by any person or group of persons in
the state and warned anybody not to dare him on the directive.
But speaking on Tuesday when leaders
and people of Urashi Kingdom paid him a solidarity visit at the
Government House in Port Harcourt, Amaechi vowed that he would be at
the forefront of the protest that would come up soon.
The governor said he had told
traditional leaders in the state to get ready for the demonstration
against Mbu over the police commissioner’s position on rallies and
demonstrations.
Amaechi, who decried Mbu’s attempt to
stop the people of Urashi from paying a solidarity visit to him, said
it was wrong for the police to have harassed his supporters.
He said Rivers was now a police state
following the police attempt to stop people’s movement by blocking the
entire Orashi region.
He said, “Another thing I will tell you
is that we are looking for a date we will demonstrate against what the
Federal Government and what the Commissioner of Police are doing in
Rivers State.
“We have told our chiefs to get ready.
Once we get a date, once we get people from overseas; they are
Nigerians; they will join us and we will give you the date.
“I have told the CP (Mbu) to be ready
to shoot me, I will be in front. I will not seat here and wait for you
to match here and give me letter. Instead, I will keep SSG here and
then I will match down with you people.
“Then I will give the SSG letter to
give to the FG so that if they want to shoot, they can shoot me because
we have a right to express our views. You have the right to criticise
me. I am not particularly a good man. There is nobody that is a perfect
man in the world. Is there any?”
He, however, commended the people of
Urashi Kingdom for braving the odds to get to Port Harcourt in spite of
the attempt by the police to stop them.
Insisting that every Nigerian had the
right to express his or her views, Amaechi argued that the state police
commissioner did not have the powers to ban demonstration since it
(protest) was part of the people’s fundamental human rights.
He said, “You people are by far
stronger than me. I got a report yesterday very late at night that the
police had planned to stop you people. I was thinking that once you see
policemen, everybody will run into his house.
“But you must learn how to use these
things. You should have recorded them so that you can show to the world
how much a tyrant our commissioner of police is.”
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