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David Amusa, Port Harcourt
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice,Rivers state, Chinwe Emmanuel Aguma (SAN) has said that the reason why Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Akin Fakorede, commander of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad(F-SARS) in Rivers state has not been re-deployed to another state is because the All Progressives Congress (APC) sees him as its Joseph Mbu in order to taunt the Rivers state government led by Barrister Nyesom Wike.
It would be recalled that Mr. Mbu, who was a former Commissioner of Police in Rivers state was believed to have been sent to Rivers state to harass former governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
According to the Attorney-General, while speaking in an interview in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state government has enough evidence of the atrocities committed by the F-SARS against the people and residents of Rivers state.
“People are testifying, deposing to oath on what happened to them. There is a whole bundle of documents that was passed on to the National Human Rights Commission. The commission is studying those documents. It is unfortunate for people (APC) to trivialize the sufferings of citizens. When people lose confidence in you, it is difficult for you to do anything you are doing. Leadership, governance is rooted in confidence. If populace has lost confidence in the leadership of an agency, the proper thing for the government to do is to change that person and now re-connect that agency to the populace. Everybody in Rivers state is complaining. Even the panel of inquiry that came here was flooded with petitions against SARS. Majority of the petitions at the Presidential Panel on abuses by the military were not against the army. They are against SARS”.
Aguma said it is the responsibility of the government to protect the people in spite of the fact that SARS is a federal agency, pointing out that that is why the state government is asking for the re-deployment of its commander so that SARS will do the work they are meant for.
“We have a duty to maintain the security of the state and promote the welfare of citizens. If the victims of that war of attrition the APC is talking about are the people who cry out about what SARS does to them, I think the Rivers state government is fighting a just war of attrition because they are fighting that war to protect its citizens from degrading treatment. So, it depends on how they (APC) define their own attrition. You hear the people crying out and the government or governor comes out and says stop debasing our citizens; stop debasing our residents and you call that a war of attrition”.
He said the authorities who deployed the SARS commander owe it a duty to Rivers people as citizens of Nigeria to investigate the complaints against the officer and his department for the interest of the citizens.
He further said failure to do so would mean that there is an ulterior motive as being chided by APC supporters.
“It is about time that those responsible come out with a categorical statement and say Rivers people you are wrong, these people are doing a great job or Rivers people you are right. The silence is deafening. The silence shows consent and this is what is dangerous. It is quite possible that they are just being indifferent, carefree and irresponsible. But if they are not called to order, it is therefore suggestive they are working on instructions of those who are supposed to call them to order. Again, from the statement by the party, you can see their clear admission on the fact that they are using Fakorede to reference Mbu. In their psyche, at some point in time, Wike had Mbu, so Fakorede is their new Mbu. So, what they are doing is, they are taunting the government;they are making jest of the citizens. They are telling the citizens go to hell and enjoy it. We have our man terrorizing you for our purposes. In fact, to refer back to the era of Mbu, it confirms the accusations that these people(APC) are doing now what they perceived Mbu was doing. And they say they are a party of change. Do two wrongs make a right? We acted wrongly and they are now acting wrongly. So, where is the change?”
The chief law officer was optimistic that if the allegations against Fakorede were investigated that the police authorities would have no option than to re-deploy him in the interest of public good.
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