The Free Rivers Development Initiative (FRDI) has on Sunday said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State must be stopped from inaugurating a vigilante organisation known as the Neighbourhood Safety Corps in Rivers State.
The Governor had last week assented to the Rivers State Neigbourhood Safety Corps Bill 2018 which is meant to provide security across the state.
However, the group said the real intention of the governor was to use the corps to intimidate his political enemies..
The President of FRDI, Mr. Ngerebala Sampson, alleged that about 200,000 cults and militia with arms, groups of all shades may be recruited into the vigilance group.
According to him, Wike has no regards for court processes, when in the face of the pending suits before the Federal High Court, he signed the Neigbourhood Safety Corps Bill into law.”
He addressed journalists in company of Hon. Chidi Lloyd, Hon. Asita Hon. and Prince Tonye Princewill.
Sampson said the recent history of vigilante activities and their aftermath in Borno, Bayelsa, Abia, Anambra and Ondo States were experiences that should not be repeated.
He said: “We are calling on the IG and other security agencies to take steps and stop the governor from inaugurating the Rivers State Safety Corps.
“Whereby our call is not heeded to, our reaction will be to also set up our own Neighbourhood Safety Corps to watch Wike’s Neighbourhood Safety Corps. We shall cloth them with uniforms and apply for arms for them through the police, then the two Neigbourhood Safety Corps will police each other. We cannot allow what happened before, during and after the 2015 general election in Rivers State to repeat itself in 2019.
“You all know that before, during and after the 2015 general election, Rivers State experienced unprecedented number of political assassinations, where members of our party were gruesomely murdered in cold blood; their offence being that they were members of All Progressives Congress (APC).
He noted that until recently when the federal forces killed some of the death merchants of Governor Wike, the rate of violence and killings led to Rivers State being described as a theater of war.”
“Rivers State has over 200,000 cults and militia with arms, groups of all shades, arming the youths under the guise of vigilante group is an attempt to create a private militia for political purpose.
“Despite all these concerns, the governor was adamant and desirous of getting the bill passed into law as unconstitutional as it was. Two suits were filed at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt challenging the bill and seeking an order of injunction restraining the governor from giving assent to the bill. The said suits were duly served on the governor, but governor ignored the suits and purportedly signed the bill into law.”