Emmanuel calls for immediate redeployment of newly posted police commissioner
By Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has called for the immediate redeployment of the newly posted Commissioner of Police, Musa Kimo saying he has shown partiality in the crisis rocking the state House of Assembly.
Emmanuel specifically accused the police commissioner who assumed duty last week in the state of aiding the five lawmakers who had defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to gain access to the State House of Assembly while barring other lawmakers.
The governor, who addressed a press conference shortly after the five lawmakers allegedly, ran away after purportedly holding a session, accused the police of threatening the peace of the state by aiding the five sacked lawmakers to take over the state House of Assembly.
“We got to know of their plans last night and I informed the Police Commissioner but he denied any knowledge of it. He has been holding meetings with the lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant. The Inspector-General has also been rebuffing my calls.
“So, I want the international community to be aware of what is happening in Akwa Ibom. That Akwa Ibom is under siege by the police. The state has always been peaceful but the police want to destroy the peace we have here,” he said.
The governor further said: “Nigerians fought for this democracy but the democracy is being killed here by the selfish ambitions of people who had ruled the state before. Some of them are calling for war while their children are abroad studying.
“So we are calling for the removal of the state police commissioner and the Head of the Quick Response Squad. We also call on President Muhammadu Buhari to take action in order to forestall a breakdown of law and order.”
According to him, “The same police that the state government is using its resources to equip are today fighting the state,” adding that several petitions to President Buhari and the IGP about the activities of the Police and the sacked lawmakers have been ignored.
He maintained that the crisis in the State House of Assembly allegedly masterminded by the sacked lawmakers is designed to prevent elections from holding in the state during the general election, saying that the will of the people would always prevail, and warning that if election were not held in the state as scheduled, then elections would not hold on any later date.
“We all worked for the democracy that is currently being threatened today. But in Akwa Ibom State due to the ambition of selfish people, people that this state has given the opportunity to become what they never dreamt to become,” he said.
He disclosed the thugs with 18 Ak47 were arrested by the police at the state House of Assembly, alleging that through the instruction of the Commissioner of Police they were ordered to be released.
“The 18 AK47 recovered by the police, the police allowed them to take them all back. So we call on the powers that be, the international community that this is the war that has been declared. I’ve never heard where the Nigerian Police is partisan; this is the first time where the entire police structure is belonging to a particular political party. If we don’t have the police, we don’t have anything except God and the people. We want to let the whole world know that whatsoever happens in the state is caused by the police, not any other arm of the security agency, perpetrated and led by the police commissioner,” Emmanuel said.
ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo