by Akan Ido

The Rivers state commissioner of police, Joseph Mbu, has dared anyone to embark on a street protest without obtaining police clearance.

Mbu who was speaking with newsmen on Thursday said the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi is unhappy with him because he has refused to be subservient to him calling the governor a tyrant and a dictator.

Read the Punch Newspapers report below:

The police commissioner, who was reacting to the alarm raised by the state governor on the rising crime wave in Rivers State, explained that though he had always respected Amaechi, it was necessary for the governor to reciprocate his (Mbu) gesture.

Amaechi had on Tuesday lamented the increasing rate of kidnapping and armed robbery and expressed reservation over Mbu’s commitment to tackle the situation.

But the commissioner of police disagreed with the governor, insisting that contrary to Amaechi’s view, security situation in the state had improved.

He said, “The office of the governor is a respected office.

“Sometimes, silence is golden but sometimes it is misconstrued. I have respect for Governor Amaechi but his attacks on me are going beyond bounds.

“Our governor is very tyrannical, he is a dictator. He wants everybody to say ‘yes sir’ to him and I said I will not say so. I am a professional.

“The governor should please stop playing politics with my name. I will tell the whole world why the governor is against me in the next interview. I will also tell you the crime rate before I came to Rivers and what the situation is now.”

On the claim by Amaechi that he (Mbu) was always reporting the deliberations of the State Security Council meeting to Abuja, Mbu explained that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, had insisted that minutes of such meeting be sent to him.

Mbu said the state had never held any formal security meeting, adding that letters were supposed to be sent to the Nigerian Navy and other security outfits through the Special Adviser on Security.

He said, “There has never been any formal letter written to convene security meeting since I came.”