The Minister
of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau, representing President Muhammadu
Buhari, yesterday visited Rivers State to assess the security situation in
the
state.
The visit
followed the killing of 21 persons returning home after the crossover night
service in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Council and other killings across the
state.
The
President said the visit was to commiserate with the government and people of
the state over the killings and called for partnership between the Federal and
Rivers State Governments to tackle security challenges in the state, which he
said is important to the nation’s economy.
He promised
that the federal government would partner with the government to ensure
adequate security of the state, saying: “Rivers State is important to the
country, particularly when it comes to the issue of the economy. It is very
important that the federal government partners with the state to see how any
security gaps can be closed for adequate protection of lives and property.”
Governor
Nyesom Wike has alleged an orchestrated plot to create the impression that the
state is unsafe through the promotion of targeted cult killings.He stated this
while speaking with Danbazzau at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Wike said
the security agencies in the state know the cult kingpins terrorising
flashpoints in the state, adding: “The Security agencies have the profiles of
all cult kingpins in different parts of the state and they know their
locations.
“There is no
wisdom in the politicisation of security. Insecurity can affect anybody, as you
can never know the next victim.”He urged the security agencies and the federal
government to deploy personnel to cult flashpoints in the state to forestall
repeated attacks by cultists.
“In every
system, the security agencies know the flashpoints. Here, we requested for the
strengthening of security around these flashpoints, especially areas with high
prevalence of cultists. I expected that security would be beefed up in these
places.
“I ask this
question: Is there an orchestrated plan to tag Rivers State as unsafe? Is the
situation above the security agencies, despite the information we have made
available to them?” The governor also blamed oil multinationals, who award
surveillance contracts to cultists, for the explosion of cultism in some
communities.
He said
equipped with funds from multinationals, cultists procure sophisticated weapons
with which they terrorise communities and law-abiding persons.
Wike said
that the state government has made several requests to the Inspector General of
Police (IGP) for the deployment of special squads to tackle cultism and
kidnapping, but the IGP has failed to grant the request, saying: “The peculiar
nature of Rivers State requires peculiar intervention. Before now, I have been
shouting that we need support to fight crime. I have made this complaint
severally.”
The governor
berated politicians who want to use the cult-related killings to play politics
and make false allegations against the state.
Meanwhile,
the Police are yet to make any arrest, four days after the dastardly
killings.The state Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, told newsmen yesterday
in Port Harcourt that the command had launched a manhunt to apprehend the
perpetrators.
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