Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike

The Rivers government has urged the Federal Government to intervene in the alleged volatile security situation in the state with a view to ensuring safety of lives and property.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Emma Okah made the appeal at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Monday.

He accused some members of Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police (SARS) of committing atrocities.

He enumerated some of the crimes allegedly being committed by some members of the security outfit and said that the people of the state were very worried over the situation.

According to him, the allegations include extortion of money from innocent residents of the state at gun point.

Okah pointed out that the state was not against the security outfit but against the “ugly methods of doing their jobs.”

He said that there had been a lot of incidents which Gov. Nyesom Wike had personally complained to the police high command and the Inspector General of Police by writing for intervention but with no positive results.

According to Okah, security has been politicised by those who should protect the citizens.

He appealed to the Federal government and the police authorities to urgently address the anomaly.

The Commissioner also asked the Federal Government to give the state a ”professional SARS” whose primary objective would be to safeguard the lives and property of residents in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Commander of the SARS in the state, CSP Akin Fakorede could not be reached for comment.

NAN, however, recalls that Fakorede had on Saturday on “View Point” programme of Redeem 95.7 FM station, Port Harcourt, denied and challenged the state government to come up with proofs on any of the allegations against the unit