Senator representing Rivers South-East in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has reinforced the recent calls for the immediate redeployment of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, over his questionable involvement in the Rivers crisis.
Speaking with a cross section of the media in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Monday, Abe, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, expressed sadness that the police hierarchy had not done anything on the matter even at the time the National Assembly passed the resolution asking for Mbu’s redeployment.
“I think that it is actually an embarrassment to the police for them to wait this long. If you look at the report of the Senate Committee, it is clear that crime has gone up in Port Harcourt since this man has been here. It is clear that normal policing is not going on in the state. It is clear that the citizens of the state are at risk, so moving somebody who is not contributing in positive manner to what the constitution expects us to be doing here is not something that the police needs to wait for National Assembly to pass resolution or anything. It is clear that the man cannot function as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State”, he said.
He insisted that the police commissioner should be redeployed so that the peace and stability of the state would not continue to be threatened.
“He (Joseph Mbu) will go. There is no doubt about it. The National Assembly has called for it and I don’t think that is something we need to debate. Rivers people know that his presence here has not contributed to the peace and stability of the state. If both House’s of the National Assembly make a clear and categorical demand, if the facts on ground make a clear and categorical demand, if the people of the state themselves have made a clear and categorical demand, Mbu should by himself carry his bags and go”.
Abe noted that the National Assembly had put into consideration the wishes of Rivers people and of other Nigerians in passing its resolution which called for CP Mbu’s redeployment. According to him, the government of the day would need to be sensitive to the wishes of Nigerians.
On the crisis in the state, he called on all political stakeholders to work for the peace and stability of the state. He equally urged them to resolve their political differences in the spirit of give and take.
“It is not a time to stoke up old grievances and things that we should let go because without a spirit of give and take there can be no peace. I have always been of the opinion that all of us should work towards peace in this state. I have always said that and there is no time that I have changed my view on that. I think that the present development gives everybody a clear field in which we can actually work together to view our differences because there are differences that has created this situation and we need to sincerely address those differences and try to look for common ground. That is what I think we should all be doing and anybody who loves Riverd State should be contributing to that effort”.
Also shedding light on the resolution by the National Assembly to take over the functions of the State House of Assembly, Senator Abe explained that the action was in line with Section 11 (4) of the amended 1999 Constitution which empowers the National Assembly to take over the functions of a State House of Assembly.
He, however, explained that the National Assembly is not authorized by the Constitution to impeach on behalf of the State Assembly.
“All the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly except the power of impeachment is now moved to Abuja, so it is now vested in the National Assembly, so if you want to pass any law in Rivers State you have to approach the National Assembly. If you want to do anything that the Rivers State House of Assembly is entitled by law to do, you have to approach the National Assembly. That is what it means”.
