The Rivers State Police Command has assured residents of its readiness to maintain law and order as the tenure of local government chairmen in the state expires today, June 17.
The warning was made by the Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, on Monday in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.
He warned individuals against taking the law into their own hands, stressing that the police will protect lives and properties.
Disu said: “My job as a police policeman is to protect lives and properties. And that is what we have gone out to do since morning.
“We are aware of the crisis that has to do with the tenure of the Local Government Chairmen and we have gotten one court order or the other.
“And the Court of Appeal has given an order for everybody to exercise restraints till the 20th of this month — just three days.
“So we expect everybody to respect it and not take laws into their hands and allow peace to continue as it is.”
The police boss confirmed that officers have been deployed since dawn, with additional personnel and equipment provided from headquarters. He praised his team for their efforts and urged the public to cooperate with the police to maintain peace.
“Sincerely, you know our officers have been out for the past three days. I just finished addressing them and I thank them for the good job they have done.
“They have been out since 4 a.m., and they just came back. We are not taking it lightly, we are ready to go. Our officers have been on a show of force and we have had additional men given to us from the Headquarters.
“This is just to assure members of the public that we are ready to do our jobs of protecting lives and properties.
“We have warned anybody who would want to take laws into their hands. I want to use this opportunity to talk to parents to call their children to order. Talk to them so that their children will not be used as cannon folds in this crisis.
“Everything that has to do with government property and every human being in this community would be protected,” he said.
Recall that last month, LG chairmen in the state under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria vowed to remain in office citing the Local Government Amendment Law No. 2 of 2024 by the Martin Amaewhule-led 27 House of Assembly members extending their tenure by six months.
