Rivers State Governor, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike has advised the Police High Command to take urgent steps to weed out bad eggs from its ranks.
This is as the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Zone 6, Mr Abubakar Marafa, has declared the support of the Zonal Command to the amnesty programme of the Rivers State government repentant cultists in the state.
Wike, who spoke on Tuesday when Marafa paid him a courtesy call at Government House, Port Harcourt, noted that the bad eggs in the police structure negatively affect the implementation of security measures.
The governor said, “Every organisation has bad eggs and there are bad eggs in the Police Force. I call on the police high command to weed out these bad eggs so that the implementation of security programmes can be more effective.”
He assured the Zone 6 Police Command of the continued support of the Rivers State Government in the maintenance of security across the zone
Wike stated that the state government has acquired six armoured personnel carriers for the Rivers State Police Command, adding that additional armoured personnel carriers will be bought in the nearest future.
The governor appealed to the police zonal command to support the state government’s amnesty programme aimed at improving security in all communities of the state.
He said, “The Amnesty programme will help us ensure that suspected cultists who voluntarily give up crime are rehabilitated so that they don’t return to their criminal ways.
“I want to also call on the Zonal Police Command to discourage the situation where frivolous cases are transferred to the Zonal Headquarters for seeming political reasons. The police must remain apolitical, especially as we are getting to the rerun elections.”
In his remarks, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6 Calabar, Mr Abubakar Marafa said that state governors are the mainstay of policing as they provide the logistical support to different state commands
Marafa, who lauded Wike for his outstanding support to the Rivers State Police Command which has led to reduction in crime across the state, appealed to the governor to extend more support to Police and other security agencies.