Our actions in Rivers conform with court order, police reply Fubara

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) says the actions of police officers in Rivers state conform with a court order barring the force from participating in the local government elections in the state.

In a statement on Friday, Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, faulted the allegations levelled against Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of police, by Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers state.

In the early hours of Friday, Fubara arrived the office of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Police operatives had barricaded the facility where electoral materials are kept.

Fubara said the presence of police officers at the RISEC premises was unnecessary.

The governor accused the IGP of taking orders from Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), to truncate the October 5 LGA elections in the state.

Fubara said the RSIEC facility is his property, while daring the IGP to shoot him.

Responding to Fubara’s comments, Adejobi said the force had been served a court order restraining the police from providing security during the poll.

The force spokesperson said the IGP ordered the Rivers police commissioner to ensure that the officers are not involved in the electoral process.

“However, in the evening of 3rd October, 2024, the commissioner of police in Rivers state, received reports that policemen from Rivers state government house have been deployed to the office of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to aid the conduct of the election,” the statement reads.

“This report was also relayed to the inspector-general of police who gave clearance to the commissioner of police to withdraw the policemen from the government house and replace them with policemen from the Command Operations department.

“The mandate of the men from the operations department was to provide overnight security for the RSIEC to prevent any attack on the facility.

“It is also important to note that prior to this, there had been a series of security breaches in the state following the spate of court orders and counter orders and reactions to them by supporters of the different political parties involved.

“The response of the command to secure RSIEC overnight was therefore professional and supported by the Inspector-General of Police.

“For emphasis sake, the policemen deployed to RSIEC from the operations department of Rivers State Command on the night of 3rd October, 2024 were with the sole mandate to protect the RIEC office from attack overnight.

“This action was proactive and responsive to intelligence at the disposal of the state command.

“It is therefore shocking to see the state governor storming the RSIEC office at night, wrongly accusing the police of lawful duties, deriding the police institution and using unprintable words to describe the Inspector-General of Police.

“The Nigeria Police takes exception to the unwarranted outburst of the governor and particularly the weighty accusations which he falsely levied against the inspector-general of Police and the entire Nigeria Police Force  and advises caution and decency in the pursuit of individual political goals.”

THE COURT JUDGMENT

On September 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the 2023 voter register to the RSIEC.

The court also stopped the IGP and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the exercise.

On October 2, INEC said it had not released the voter register to RSIEC for the conduct of the election, in compliance with the verdict of the federal high court.

On October 3, a crowd besieged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, to protest against the election.

Despite these developments, Fubara has vowed to proceed with the election and has declared Thursday and Friday as public holidays.