Controversial Rivers Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu redeployed to Abuja

The Police Service Commission has approved the recommendations of the Inspector-General of Police for the redeployment of Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu.

The Police Service Commission has transferred the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mbu, to Abuja as the new Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police.

Also, the Commissioner in charge of the Special Fraud Unit, Johnson Ogunshakin, has been redeployed to Rivers State to replace Mbu as the new Commissioner of Police.

The redeployment affects thirteen (13) Commissioners of Police who have been moved to various Commands nationwide, as contained in a press release.

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.
The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Okiro, in the press release issued by Mr.Ferdinand Ekpe, admonished the newly redeployed officers to put in their best in their various Commands’ operations, so as to provide a secure environment for business and life to thrive.