CP Mbu Removed As Rivers Police Commisioner

The Police Service Commission on Thursday   bowed to   pressure by transferring the controversial  Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu.

To take over from him is the Commissioner in charge of the Special Fraud Unit, Johnson Ogunsakin.

Mbu was moved to the Federal Capital Territory Command  in  a  transfer exercise that affected 21 other  CPs and 13 Deputy Commissioners of Police.

It was  widely believed that the All Progressives Congress  directive to its members in the National Assembly  to block the passage of all Executive bills, including  the 2014 budget,  might have contributed to Mbu’s  redeployment.

The Caucus of the APC  in  the House  welcomed  his removal, saying with the development, it  was fully ready to participate in the debate on the budget.

Names of 13 CPs  affected by the transfer were contained in a statement by the Chief Information Officer, Ferdinand Ekpe.  The names of  nine  other CPs and the 13 DCPs were contained in another statement by the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

The  CPs  are Ambrose Aisabo, who was transferred to Kwara State;  Felix Uyanya,  Ekiti; Abdulmajid Ali, Imo; Benjamin Onwuka,   Kebbi; Ibrahim Maishanu,  Osun ; Adamu Ibrahim, Abia; and Aderenle Shinaba,  Kano.

Others are Umaru Shehu,  Kaduna;  Abakasanga  A.J.  Adamawa;  Kalafite Adeyemi, Taraba;  Ibrahim Idris, Nasarawa; Sotonye Wankama, Counter-Terrorism Unit; Kayode Aderanti, Western Port of Lagos; Sylvester Umeh,  Commandant, Police College;  and Danladi Mshelbwala, Bomb Disposal Squad.

Also affected by the transfer are Godfrey Okeke, who is now the  Deputy Commandant, Police Staff College, Jos; Mohammed Mohammed,  Deputy Force Secretary; Agboola Oshodi-Glover, Info-tech; Chintua Amajor-Onu, Homicide,FHQ; and Salisu Abdullahi, Federal Investigations Bureau.

Before Mbu’s  transfer,     Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and the APC  had insisted on  his removal for    alleged  partisanship.

The  state government   had also   instituted a legal  action against the PSC and the Inspector-General of Police, asking   for  Mbu’s redeployment .  It  also  sent a petition  against him to the National Human Rights Commission.

But the PSC   had refused to redeploy Mbu on the grounds   that it did not want to pre-empt the court.

 The APC  lawmakers  however welcomed   Mbu’s  redeployment, saying it  showed that their party  had made “real impact”  by  forcing the Federal Government to allow the rule of law to prevail in Rivers State.

They   recalled that the political crisis    was the reason the APC directed  them  to “block” all executive proposals by   Jonathan.

“We have been vindicated that there are more than one way to skin a cat. As a party, we have been vindicated,”  the  Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, told The PUNCH.

Gbajabiamila, who described the redeployment as a sign of victory for the APC, added that members of the caucus  would now debate the 2014 budget.

The caucus had on Tuesday stalled the debate on the budget, using alleged “breach” of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 as an excuse.

The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however, declined to comment on the development.

The Rivers  State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, described the development as a routine exercise by  the   Police.

Semenitari explained that the  government was in support of a police force that would play its  roles to the benefit of Nigerians.

The Save Rivers Movement,  a group that had its members and supporters dispersed  on several occasions by the police in the state, described Mbu’s  redeployment as a welcome development.

Its President, Mr. Charles Ahorlu, called on the new CP  to perform his duties without bias.

“It (Mbu’s redeployment) is a welcome development because as the state police commissioner in Rivers, he showed that he was partisan. Our advice to the police commissioner that will replace him  is that he should shun politics and be professional in carrying out his duties,” Ahorlu said.