June 26, 2013 –
Governor Amaechi Dares Rivers State Police Commissioner “Shoot Me If You Can”
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has dared the State
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, to shoot him whenever he embarks
on a demonstration against him (CP) and the Federal Government.
Mbu had placed a ban on any form of demonstration, procession or
rally by any person or group of persons in the state and warned anybody
not to dare him on the directive.
But speaking on Tuesday when leaders and people of Urashi Kingdom
paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House in Port Harcourt,
Amaechi vowed that he would be at the forefront of the protest that
would come up soon.
The governor said he had told traditional leaders in the state to get
ready for the demonstration against Mbu over the police commissioner’s
position on rallies and demonstrations.
Amaechi, who decried Mbu’s attempt to stop the people of Urashi from
paying a solidarity visit to him, said it was wrong for the police to
have harassed his supporters.
He said Rivers was now a police state following the police attempt to
stop people’s movement by blocking the entire Orashi region.
He said, “Another thing I will tell you is that we are looking for a
date we will demonstrate against what the Federal Government and what
the Commissioner of Police are doing in Rivers State.
“We have told our chiefs to get ready. Once we get a date, once we
get people from overseas; they are Nigerians; they will join us and we
will give you the date.
“I have told the CP (Mbu) to be ready to shoot me, I will be in
front. I will not seat here and wait for you to match here and give me
letter. Instead, I will keep SSG here and then I will match down with
you people.
“Then I will give the SSG letter to give to the FG so that if they
want to shoot, they can shoot me because we have a right to express our
views. You have the right to criticise me. I am not particularly a good
man. There is nobody that is a perfect man in the world. Is there any?”
He, however, commended the people of Urashi Kingdom for braving the
odds to get to Port Harcourt in spite of the attempt by the police to
stop them.
Insisting that every Nigerian had the right to express his or her
views, Amaechi argued that the state police commissioner did not have
the powers to ban demonstration since it (protest) was part of the
people’s fundamental human rights.
He said, “You people are by far stronger than me. I got a report
yesterday very late at night that the police had planned to stop you
people. I was thinking that once you see policemen, everybody will run
into his house.
“But you must learn how to use these things. You should have recorded
them so that you can show to the world how much a tyrant our
commissioner of police is.”
[Source:
Punch NG]
