Controversial Rivers Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, others redeployed

Mr. Mbu is accused of partisanship in the Rivers crisis.The information commissioner for Rivers state, Ibim Semenitari, said Mbu had been a "major embarrassment" for the police while APC spokesman Lai Mohammed said their stance had been vindicated

The police headquarters on Thursday confirmed the redeployment of controversial Rivers State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu. Mr. Mbu, who was redeployed to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, would be replaced by Tunde Ogunsakin, formerly of the Special Fraud Unit. The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in a statement, confirmed that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, ordered the redeployment of Mr. Mbu, 23 other CPs and 13 Deputy Commissioners of Police. Mr. Abubakar stated that the posting was part of strategic efforts to reposition the Force for improved and efficient service delivery. He enjoined all the redeployed police chiefs to step up the fight against all forms of criminality across the country and to ensure sustained improvement of public safety. He also appealed to Nigerians to support the new police commissioners to enable them succeed in the discharge of their constitutional and statutory mandate. The eventual redeployment of Mr. Mbu comes after the All Progressives Congress, APC asked its lawmakers in the National Assembly to boycott executive bills, including the 2014 budget, until the presidency resolved the Rivers’ crisis; in which the Police Commissioner has been implicated by the state governor, Rotimi Amaechi. The face-off between Mr. Mbu and the state governor, started to receive serious coverage in the media in the aftermath of a violent fight in the Rivers State House of Assembly in July 2013. Mr. Amaechi, then, accused the Police Commissioner of colluding with the presidency to undermine his government. Mr. Amaechi is one of the five Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors who decamped to the APC. Mr. Amaechi also alleged threats to his life by the Police Commissioner and petitioned the Inspector General of Police to redeploy Mr. Mbu. The Police Commissioner, who had continually maintained that he acts professionally, counter-accused Mr. Amaechi of being a dictator. Meanwhile, despite resolutions by the National Assembly supporting Mr. Amaechi’s call for Mr. Mbu’s redeployment, and the shuffling of police commissioners across the country in August, 2013, Mr. Mbu remained as the Commissioner of Police in Rivers until his redeployment on Thursday