A retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) and former commissioner of police in Rivers state, Mr. Joseph Mbu, has threatened to lead a protest against the government of Cross River state.
AIG Mbu is accusing Governor Ben Ayade of mis-governance, impunity, massive misappropriation of monthly security votes and indiscriminate use of the police.
Mbu, who retired from the Nigeria Police in 2016, in an interview with journalists in Calabar, Tuesday, called on Cross Riverians to support mass protest against the state government.
He also faulted what he saw as a deliberate stiffening of the police and other security agencies of the share of the monthly security votes to support their works, saying such action could have contributed to heightened crime wave in the state.
“During the government of Liyel Imoke and Donald Duke, every DPO had a monthly entitlement of N100, 000 which they used in taking care of the needs of the stations. They buy fuel, do patrols and other things. What are you doing?
“Since this government took over, it has never given any DPO a stipend. Area Commanders were being given N250,000 under Liyel Imoke’s administration. The governor should tell us what he has been giving to these DPOs. He should tell us what he does with his monthly security votes,” he stated.
Mbu further raised the alarm over the number of riot policemen attached to top politicians and dignitaries in Nigeria. He said such development was to the detriment of the overall security of ordinary Nigerian. He called for reduction in the number.
“These are police personnel who are supposed to be patrolling the streets of Calabar and the highways. They are supposed to be on the streets in all our major cities, all entry points, all the suburbs. They are there being misused because some heads of police departments are compromised,” he said.