GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has blamed the “total collapse of national security” on Federal Government’s interference in operations of security agencies.
Wike said this in Port Harcourt, yesterday, while hosting participants of the Senior Executive Course 40, 2018 Study Group 3, of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru. “In most cases, security lapses are a result of political interference,” he said, citing the case of Assistant Commissioner of Police Akin Fakorede “as contained on page 66 of INEC Report into Rivers Rerun Elections wherein Fakorede was indicted for electoral fraud, violence, ballot box snatching and abduction of INEC officials.” Wike alleged that “The man was given special promotion as reward for the job he did for the Police in Rivers State during the rerun.
He has been transferred back to the state in preparation for their planned manipulation of the 2019 general election. “The FG has laid the foundation for crisis and violence in 2019. They are the ones who perpetrate crisis. We are peace makers and that is why we are drawing the attention of the international community to these actions.” On the contentious Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, the governor wondered why the Federal Government’s disposition has been different, compared to existing similar models allowed to thrive in Lagos, Nasarawa and Kaduna states. “Federal security agencies lack personnel and equipment to provide security for all communities. The Neighbourhood Safety Corps will complement their efforts. Apart from payment of salaries, the state government funds the logistics and operations of the security agencies,” he said. Leader of the visiting NIPSS Study Group, Rear Admiral Ahamefule Eluwa, said that the group was working on how to proffer solutions to the security challenges facing the country. The group, he added, will study the Rivers Neighbourhood Safety Corps, acknowledging that everyone was seeking effective security models with Rivers State having already taken bold steps to secure the state.
