Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force of protecting indicted officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
He alleged that, the Police leadership promoted the officers up to the rank of Assistant Inspector General instead of taking disciplinary actions against them.
He made this known on Friday, in a statement titled, ‘Wike Advocates Amendment Of Laws Establishing Nigeria Police Force’ and signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim.
The governor said via the statement that, the Federal Government is trivialising the demands of #EndSARS protesters by directing state governors to take charge of Tactical Commands of the Police.
“State governors cannot take charge of Tactical Commands because they cannot employ or discipline anyone who errs.
“In Rivers State, we set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry that indicted SARS officers. Instead of the Police authorities punishing the indicted officers, they shielded them and even promoted one to the rank of an Assistant Inspector General.
“Now, the Federal Government wants us to set up another Commission of Inquiry when the report of the last one we set up was not implemented”, the governor was quoted as saying.
He equally charged the Federal Government to practise true federalism, saying, “Let us practise true federalism. You cannot support community policing and say state police will be controlled by governors.”
Wike also defended his action of placing a ban on protests, saying that he acted on intelligence to ensure that #EndSARS protest in Port Harcourt was not hijacked by thugs; he added that he supports the demand for a reformed Police Force.
He further said; “From the beginning, we in Rivers State suffered in the hands of SARS operatives as they killed innocent people and made the state ungovernable.
“They even killed a polytechnic lecturer. We cried but they reduced it to politics.
“If we are sincere in this country, what affects one part of the country will be taken seriously by others. Unfortunately, we politicise everything”.