Dismissal of six police officers tragic, says Rivers government

The Rivers State government has described the dismissal of six Police officers attached to Governor Nyesom Wike as very tragic for professionalism, adding that it received the decision of the Nigeria Police Force with infinite sadness.

A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Austin Tam George, explained that the Police officers were subjected to a secret and unfair trial on totally fictitious charges of professional misconduct during the rerun elections in the state on December 10, last year.

George said: “This is a tragic day for professionalism and the respect for human rights in the Nigeria Police Force.“The dismissed officers committed no crime, other than foil a carefully orchestrated electoral heist by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) in collusion with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Nigeria Police Force.

“The claim by the Police that the affected officers misused their firearms while in the convoy of the governor on December 10, last year is a wrong and cruel fabrication.

“Wike did not depart from his official premises on the day of the election and, therefore, had no use for an armed convoy.“Two days after the elections, on December 12, thousands of Rivers people, led by the governor, resisted an invasion by the Police on the premises of the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council premises in a brazen attempt to rig the elections in favour of the APC.

“The Port Harcourt City Council was the Election Collation Centre for the Rivers East Senatorial District.“Throughout the period of the stand-off between the invading Police officers and the thousands of citizens who resisted them, Wike and the officers around him conducted themselves with utmost restraint.

“The dismissed officers are, therefore, the latest victims of the medieval dictatorship of the APC government.”He, however, urged Nigerians to demand the immediate reinstatement of the dismissed officers and for the Inspector General of Police to allow an independent inquiry.

“The APC government has never hidden its desperation to overrun Rivers State, ‘colonise’ its people and loot the treasury of the state, but the Rivers people will continue to resist all attempts to enslave them,” the statement added.