The crisis in Rivers State, caused by the
battle for supremacy between the state
governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the state
Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu,
took a dramatic turn yesterday as the
labour organizations in the state have laid
down a deadline for the removal or
redeployment of the Commissioner of
Police.
The Rivers State chapters of the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade
Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have
issued an ultimatum to the Inspector-
General of Police (IGP), Mohammed
Abubakar, and the Police Service
Commission (PSC) to redeploy Mbu or
face an indefinite strike.
The organizations, while announcing the
21-day ultimatum, also reportedly
demanded that the IGP and the police
commissioner tender their unreserved
apologies for using teargas to chase away
13,000 newly-employed teachers who
were at the Liberation Stadium on
Wednesday to collect their posting
letters.
The organised labour also described the
actions and inactions of Mbu as invitation
to anarchy in Rivers State, insisting that
the police commissioner must be
redeployed forthwith to avert imminent
industrial disharmony in Rivers State.
The Rivers Chairman of the NLC, Chief
Chris Oruge, and his counterpart of the
TUC, Chika Onuegbu, at a joint news
conference yesterday at the NLC
Secretariat, D-Line, Port Harcourt,
declared that the issues raised by the
organised labour must be addressed
expeditiously, declaring that they were
not afraid of blackmail.
Amaechi and Mbu had been at
loggerheads since the police
commissioner’s redeployment from the
Oyo State Command in February, with
the NGF chairman declaring that the only
condition for peace in the state would be
the redeployment of Mbu who was
accused of taking sides and described as a
politician.
The Senate and the House of
Representatives, in separate resolutions,
before they proceeded on recess, also
called for the immediate redeployment of
the Rivers police commissioner, but the
IGP later stated that Mbu was a
professional police officer and would
remain in Rivers State.
On the allegation of being bribed by
Amaechi to discredit Mbu and embark on
strike, the NLC chairman stated that
people had the right to say whatever they
liked, but they must crosscheck the facts.
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