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Governor Nyesom Wike allocated a whopping N22billion in the 2018 budget to security vote and soon a Bill landed in the state’s House of Assembly for the establishment of a security outfit called the Rivers State Neighbourhood Watch Corps. Next, the Bill received speedy passage and it landed on the governor’s table. Law suits trailed the Bill to the Government House but could not stop assent and heaven was let loose in the public arena. The Commissioner for Information and Communication, Emma Okah, also a lawyer like the governor, in this exclusive interview with IGNATIUS CHUKWU, outlines the greater merits in the initiative, saying outcry alone would not stop the governor from protecting lives and property.
What is reigning this time around in the Rivers political firmament is the recent signing of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Security Watch Corps Bill into law against outcry from certain quarters: what does Governor Nyesom Wike want to achieve with this move?
Yes, we are aware of some negative reactions from the opposition in the state, but what Governor Nyesom Wike simply wants to achieve is to create additional re-enforcement to the security infrastructure in the state. It is to create a back up to the policing structure in Rivers State. It is to fill in the gap that exists; vis-à-vis the way the security agencies do their work. If we want to be serious on crime prevention and focus more on crime control, you will agree with me that intelligence gathering and processing are key. If you do not have adequate information or intelligence to pass on to the security agencies, it will be difficult to prevent a crime from being committed. So, the Neighbourhood Watch Law of Rivers State is aimed at filling that gap; a gap of providing credible intelligence that would enable the police to act. Such intelligence would be able to achieve the desired results that would make the government to beat its chest and say it has been able to protect lives and property in Rivers State.
One does not intend to set up a political militia; to do what? Rivers State Government cannot be spending so much money to secure the state and turn back to generate additional layer of security challenge for itself. That would be scandalous, and those who think along that line do not wish the state well.
I think that the way things are in our state, we have to secure our state, because if we do not do it, nobody will do it for us. The security agencies sent to the state have their limits; they are overstretched. It is better to involve all stakeholders to encourage all those who have something to offer to do so in terms of tackling insecurity in our state. It is easier if anybody who has something to do to do it so that everybody can go home to sleep with both eyes closed.
Those who are importing politics into a noble idea such as this clearly show that the opposition in the state has nothing to say. I have always said that the marvelous achievements of the Gov Wike administration for almost three years have silenced the opposition; they have nothing to say.
Are those people opposing the Neighbourhood Watch Corp saying that they have police to move around and also have for their relations? So, politicizing security is the greatest disservice anybody can give to his state. So, as far as we are concerned, we believe that the security initiative is for the good of the majority of the people of the state. They will help us do our jobs better and it will enable the security agencies to discharge their constitutional responsibility much better than they did before.
Are there things in the law that should have stopped the governor from signing the Bill into law as claimed by the opposition?
There is nothing; absolutely nothing. You know, when matters like this come up, everybody becomes a lawyer and begins to quote the law upside down. Some quote sections of laws that do not exist.
The law said operatives of the Neighbourhood Watch may bear arms with the consent of the police. The police already have the statutory obligation to give license to people to bear arms, and a lot of the people talking against the outfit have their licenses and guns granted them by the police. A lot of conditions are met before a license is granted to anybody. So, there is no way an operative of the Neighbourhood Watch Corp can posses any piece of ammunition of any kind, provided the ammunition is one covered by regulation by the police by relevant statutes. So, what are they saying? We are saying the police are the lecturers and they decide what would be used to write; all we provide are the students. Any student you give green biro will write with green biro. The opposition is busy shouting; why should somebody use green biro, but they have not asked what are the conditions warranting the use of green biro. I have always said that most people talk before they think. It is disgusting having to always reply some of these people.
So, the papers served on the governor were not strong enough to stop him?
I do not think any papers were served on him. If there are any such papers, I am not aware. All I am interested in is the merit of the law. Nobody can stop the Government from discharging its constitutional rule. It’s like serving a paper to the National Assembly to say, stop sitting, or telling the President to stop discharging the functions of a president because you are in court. Is that how low we have got to?
Some people fear that the Governor would hand over the arms recovered from state’s amnesty programme in 2016 and 2017 to the members of the Neighbourhood Watch; is this fear real?
That is also another irony to worry about. The arms were not kept by the Governor in the first place. Do not forget that there was a Task Force on Amnesty. The Government’s duty vis-à-vis that task force was limited to provision of logistics and the political will to enable them do their job. The security agencies were members of that task force and so, arms recovered were given to them. Civilians do not keep arms. Security agencies keep arms as is allowable within international standards and the law. So, when they want to destroy them, it is the military that would do that, not civilians. The Governor does not have an armoury. Government House is no arms depot nor is it a military base to keep arms.
So, what do we expect in the coming months in view of this situation and the new law?
We expect peace and enhanced security. See what the Governor did in the Omoku (Don Wanni) situation. He put down N200million as bounty to boost the search and hunt for the killers. That shows how far the governor was ready to go to ensure that lives and property in Rivers State remained safe. As far as we are concerned, we will continue what the law and logistics permit us to do, until we are sure that those who do not want us to sleep will not sleep either.
Does the law permit the Neighbourhood Watch to detain and prosecute suspects?
Everything the Neighbourhood Watch Corp Law allows the operatives to do is something that is permissible by law. As a private person, you have the right to arrest. Here, we are saying, these people are going to work with the police. Arresting someone is going to be with the police. You cannot on your own begin to bear arms, you cannot on your own begin to arrest people or detain them. You cannot on your own begin to do certain things, if those things are reserved to certain people such as the police and the security agencies. Even at that, there is the right for ordinary persons to arrest offenders. Are you saying, for instance, if a member of the Neighbourhood Watch Corp is passing and a child is crying of rape, the operative should walk away, should not peep in to ask, what is happening here? In fact, it is even a greater duty on neighbours who are no security men to do something and prevent crime from being committed, let alone those permitted by law to carry out such functions. The argument is neither here nor there.
All I know is that Wike’s performance in office has been well acknowledged, it has been outstanding, and it has whittled down the opposition. I have no doubt that as we proceed towards 2019, they may have nothing to say because numerous projects would be commissioned. Projects would shut the opposition up. They did not expect this much and they have been mangled by the weight of his achievements.
