Wike calls for amendment of laws establishing Nigeria Police Force

*Says #ENDSARS protest calls for true federalism

BY IBRAHIM BAKARE

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has advocated an amendment of the Laws establishing the Nigeria Police Force to tackle current security challenges facing the country.

Governor Wike made the call while speaking on some national issues on a Live National Television Programme in Port Harcourt.

In a press Statement by Paulinus Nsirim,the Commissioner for Information and Communications quoting the Governor said that such critical look at the enabling laws should be the starting point in achieving an enduring total reform of the Police.

“We are in a Federal System. Issues cannot be addressed by the Federal Government giving directives to State Governors.

“There is need for all stakeholders to look at the various laws establishing the Police to determine the roles of Councils, States and the Federal Government.

“We are at a point in our history that collective involvement is important. This is so because the nature of crime fighting today does not support a central command and control.

“We need to embrace the reality. Once the areas requiring amendment have been agreed, the National Assembly can now be involved,” he said.

The Governor said the Federal Government is trivialising the demands by #EndSARS protesters by directing State Governors to take charge of Tactical Commands of the Police.

“State Governors cannot take charge of Tactical Commands because they cannot employ or discipline anyone who errs.

“In Rivers State, we set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry that indicted SARS officers. Instead of the Police authorities punishing the indicted officers, they shielded them and even promoted one to the rank of an Assistant Inspector General.

“Now the Federal Government wants us to set up another Commission of Inquiry when the report of the last one we set up was not implemented,” he stated.

Governor Wike stated that he acted on intelligence to ensure that #EndSARS protest In Port Harcourt was not hijacked by miscreants.

He said if he did not support it, he would not have addressed the protesters who are demanding a change in the way the Federal Government conducts the affairs of the country.

He reiterated his call for a total reform of the entire security agencies beginning with the Nigeria Police Force.

“From the beginning, we in Rivers state suffered in the hands of SARS operatives as they killed innocent people and made the State ungovernable.

“They even killed a Polytechnic Lecturer. We cried but they reduced it to politics. The Media tagged us Rivers of Blood when we had security issues.

“If we are sincere in this country, what affects one part of the country will be taken seriously by others. Unfortunately, we politicise everything.

“Let us practice true federalism. You cannot support community policing and say State Police will be controlled by Governors,” he said.

Governor Wike noted with dismay the continued infraction of the nation’s constitution by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government.

He said the recent appointment of an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari as a national Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) violates the provisions of the Constitution.