4th July, 2015
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Chris Ezike, the new Commissioner of Police, for Rivers has launched an anti-kidnapping and armed robbery campaign with Governor Nyesom Wike, pledging full support.
Wike also charged the new CP to take charge and do something urgently about traffic congestion and in the state.
The governor stated this when the new CP paid him a courtesy visit in the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Wike noted that the new CP, Ezike, is proactive in assessing and identifying the challenges of traffic congestion, kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism.
He lauded Ezike’s “Operation Keep Moving” to ease traffic jam and the one month “Crime Emergency Campaign” to fight crime, because they will give the people of Rivers state very high hope, noting that, “some of the things that happened a few months ago will be a thing of the past.”
Concerning traffic jams in the state, the governor charged the new CP, to deploy a team to check the activities of commercial buses and taxis who usually block the roads and create traffic jam but warned that the team should not extort members of the public.
With regards to cultism, Wike told the CP to punish anybody caught for cult-related crime irrespective of who the person or persons are related to. “There should be no sacred cows in dealing with the cultists,” he stated.
In relation to kidnapping, the governor informed the CP that an amendment to the kidnapping law was already being treated by state assembly and would be finalised in due course. He said kidnappers would be punished and the ill-gotten wealth and properties will be confiscated and destroyed.
“I believe there cannot be governance without security. Security is one priority we must focus on. We will do the best we can to encourage investors to return to Rivers state.”
He further noted that: “I will give you the total support to see that crime is reduced to the barest minimum in Rivers state.
The CP commended the governor Wike on his “security friendly disposition” and promised on behalf of the police that the Rivers state command will do its best.
It would be noted there have been a rise in kidnapping and robbery in state in first half of this year.
Prof. Rosamund Green Osahugulu, the Vice Chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt was one of high profile victims of numerous kidnapping in the state. She was abducted and later released.