•Give Police 7-day ultimatum to vacate 23 council secretariats
•Police action unconstitutional, provocative —APC chieftain
•Withdraw all personnel from councils — NULGE
The Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, and over 40 affiliate organizations have threatened to embark on a statewide protest if the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun refuses to withdraw his men laying siege on the 23 local government councils in Rivers State.
Recall that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, by the order of the IGP had deployed officers to man all the LG councils in the wake of the crisis that erupted on Tuesday following the expiration of the tenure of the out-gone chairmen.
Consequently, the 23 newly sworn-in caretaker chairmen of the councils are said to be operating from homes, hotels and other convenient places to carry out their administrative functions in the state.
Speaking on the continuous blockade of the secretariats, the South-South zonal chairman of CLO, Comrade Enefaa Georgewill, called on the police to stop turning Rivers into a police state, adding that the continuous blockade of the councils’ gates was “insulting and demeaning to the people of the state.”
The CLO chairman disclosed that the human rights group has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Police to vacate the secretariats or risk a statewide mass anti-police protest in Rivers State.
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“We give the Nigerian Police a 7-day ultimatum which expires next Friday, June 28, 2024, to withdraw its men from the 23 secretariats across the local government areas of the state. We are at the moment consulting with all our affiliates and we are giving the police Command a time of grace to do the needful.
“We have a Governor, who has decided the crisis arising from the local government tenure imbroglio by swearing in a new caretaker committee to carry out the administrative work at the councils pending the conduct of LG elections.
“A competent court of jurisdiction had ruled that the Martins Amaewhule Assembly had no right to make laws for the extension of the tenure of the past council chairmen. Police ought to obey the subsisting judgment and remain neutral in the matter pending the final ruling by the Appeal Court,” he said.
Allow our members access to councils —NULGE
Similarly, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Rivers State chapter called on the police to vacate the premises of the council secretariats and allow local government workers access to the offices to carry out their legitimate duties.
Rivers state Chairman of NULGE, Comrade Clifford Paul, in a statement, yesterday, described as a pressing concern the continuous siege at the various secretariats by the police.
“We call on the Rivers State Police Police Command to immediately withdraw all police personnel from the council secretariats in the state.
“The presence of these personnel has denied our local government workers access to the offices preventing them from carrying out their legitimate duties. The NULGE therefore gives the Nigerian Police Force a deadline of Monday, June 24, 2024, to vacate all local government secretariats in Rivers State and to ensure that our workers are granted unhindered access to their workplace.
“It is imperative that the normal function of local government councils is restored to continue serving the third tier effectively. However, we want to reiterate that the local government workers are not partisan and should not be brought into politics. We are core civil servants”, Clifford said.
Police siege unlawful — Ex-APC spokesman
In like manner, Mr. Sogboye Eli, a lawyer and former Spokesman of the APC campaign council, Rivers State in 2023, said the siege on council secretariats is “unlawful, unconstitutional, provocative and further derogates the situation in Rivers State.”
Eli said that there was no official order from any court of law authorizing the Police IG to besiege the local government councils
