Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State has condemned what he said has been the role of the police in the current political crisis in Rivers State.
Speaking on Saturday’s local government election in the state, the former House of Representatives’ deputy speaker said it was a constitutional breach for the police to recuse themselves from the election.
He however commended the general peaceful conduct of the election, which he said was “very peaceful and massive in my area in Port Harcourt”.
Opara said the police abdicated their constitutional role by not participating in the election, saying it was abdication of their constitutional duty to provide security to the people of the state.
“What happened today shows that there could be armed robbery or kidnapping and the police would look away just because they want to please one man. It’s despicable,” he said.
“What the police did was an affront on the constitution of the country. Why would the Inspector General take sides. If you don’t want to provide security, won’t you provide security to the people? It is the taxes that people in Rivers State pay that are used to pay their salaries,” he said.
The former deputy speaker also condemned the sealing of the 23 local government secretariats in the state since June 18th when the tenure of the former local government chairmen and councillors expired.
He said the sealing off of the council secretariats has not only disrupted the operations of the local governments in the state, but has deprived workers in the system their legitimate means of livelihood. It’s so unfortunate,” he said.
