Don’t underestimate Rivers political crisis – Abe tells Presidency

Senator Magnus Abe representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District, has described the continuous disruption of legitimate activities by the police in Rivers State, under the police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu as undemocratic and a disservice to Nigeria.

He was reacting to the tear-gassing and dispersing of 13,000 newly-recruited teachers of the Rivers State government, who gathered at the Liberation Stadium, Port-Harcourt to collect their posting letters.

Abe noted that, at a time government was fighting unemployment in a world fast becoming a knowledge-based economic, more premium should be placed on teachers, but lamented that an institution like the police expected to work towards the development of the country do not view the times as important.

“By Mbu’s action, it is clear that the Police have turned against the constitution, in order to frustrate the developmental agenda of this administration, but they will continue to fail,” the Chairman Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) declared.

“What are the sins of these young men and women that agreed to teach our children and earn a living; why must they be tear-gassed and molested for coming to collect posting letters, what are the sins of this pupils that police Commissioner Mbu does not want them to be given a future,” he queried.

Senator Abe observed that “Mbu Joseph Mbu was once a pupil taught by a teacher and as a leader in the Police, he is expected to teach younger officers, but he is a bad teacher and therefore should respect good teachers.”

While expressing his solidarity with the teachers. Abe urged the presidency not to underestimate the trauma Mbu was putting Nigerians through, emphasising that the politically-motivated crisis in Rivers State was capable of crippling the nation’s democracy.

 25 9