ENDSARS: How we can stop the looming danger -Wike by Preye Michael
Governor Nyesom Wike has said it will take constitutional amendments and not mere federal directives to successfully deal with the dangers ahead as the raging ENDSARS protest goes global.
The Governor in continued media remarks on the growing protests gone global also said the situation at hand also calls for imperative restructuring of the nation’s political system.
He said, “We are in a federal system. Issues cannot be addressed by the Federal Government (FG) issuing directives to State Governors.
“There is need for all stakeholders to look at the various laws establishing the Police to determine the roles of Councils, States and the FG.
“We are at a point in our history that collective involvement is important because the nature of crime fighting today does not support a central command and control.
“We need to embrace the reality. Once the areas requiring amendment have been agreed, National Assembly can now be involved.”
He blamed FG as trivialising demands by #EndSARS protesters in directing State Governors to take charge of Tactical Commands of the Police.
He position; “State Governors cannot take charge of Tactical Commands whem they cannot employ or discipline anyone who errs.
“In Rivers, we set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry that indicted SARS officers. Instead of the Police authorities punishing the indicted officers, they shielded them, even promoted one to Assistant Inspector General.
“Now the FG wants us to set up another Commission of Inquiry when the report of the last one we set up was not implemented.”
Governor Wike stated that he acted on intelligence to ensure that #EndSARS protest in Port Harcourt was not hijacked by miscreants.
He recalled the pain that, “From the beginning, Rivers state suffered most 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. The media tagged us Rivers of Blood when we had security issues.
“If we are sincere in this country, what affects one part of the country will be taken seriously by others. Unfortunately, we politicise everything.
“Let us practice true federalism. You cannot support community policing and say State Police will be controlled by Governors.”
He, again, expressed disgust at President Muhammadu Buhari recent appointment of a personal aide among new national Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), terming it a constitutional violation.
