Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said on Friday that there was an orchestrated plan to create the impression that the state was not safe through the promotion of targetted cult-related killings.
Wike made the allegation when the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau (rtd) paid him a courtesy call in Port Harcourt.
The governor said that the state government was ready to partner with the Federal Government to tackle the security challenges in the state.
He stated that the security agencies in the state had knowledge of the cult kingpins terrorizing flashpoints in the state.
“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, you can never know the next victim of insecurity,’’ the governor stated.
Wike called on security agencies and the Federal Government to deploy personnel to cult flashpoints in the state to stop 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 expect that security would be beefed up in these places, I ask this question, Is there an orchestrated plan to tag Rivers State unsafe?
“Is the situation above the security agencies, despite the information we have made available to them?” the governor asked.
He accused oil multinationals for the escalation of cultism in some communities, adding that the multinationals had encouraged cultism through the award of surveillance contracts to cultists.
Wike lamented that having been funded by multinationals, cultists were able to purchase sophisticated weapons with which they caused mayhem on communities and law-abiding citizens.
He disclosed that the State Government had made several requests to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to deploy special squads to tackle cultism and kidnapping in Rivers.
The governor stated that the IGP had failed to deploy special squads to the state, despite several requests by the State government.
“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,” he said.
Wike berated politicians who had wanted to adopt cult-related killings to play politics by making false allegations against the state.
Earlier, Danbazzau noted that he was in the state at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari to assess the security situation.
The Minister on behalf of the President, condoled the government and the people of the State over the killings at Omoku.
“Rivers State is important to the country, particularly when it comes to the issue of the nation’s economy.
“It is very important that the Federal Government collaborates with the state to see how any security gap can be closed for adequate protection of lives and property, ” the minister added.
