The Rivers State Police Command under the watch of CP Joseph Mbu this morning came under fire from the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the arrest and of two Local Government Council Chairmen loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

The party in a statement issued in the state capital, Port Harcourt, described the situation as being a continuation of the police command’s war against the Rivers State Government and its allies.

“Hon. Gregory Bariledum Nwidam, chairman of Khana Local Government Area, and his Gokana counterpart, Hon. Ledee Demua, were taken into custody since Monday morning and have been kept incommunicado since then. They are being detained at the Police Old Government Reservation Area, GRA, Divisional Headquarters. Both men have been subjected to monumental mental torture after being subjected to series of interrogations supervised by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in-charge of Monitoring,” Rivers APC Interim Chairman, Dr. Davies Ikanya, said in the statement.

According to him, “This to us is yet another evidence of the highhandedness being displayed by the State Police Command under CP Mbu probably acting on the directives of their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) partners in their desperation to plunge Rivers State into unprecedented crisis.

“The arrest and detention of Hon. Nwidam and Hon. Demua is without justification. As if that is not bad enough, they have been held beyond the 24 hours prescribed by the Nigerian Constitution while attempts are being made to find a crime to hang on their necks.

“This is condemnable. We therefore call for the immediate release of these gentlemen whose only crime is their support for democracy and Government of Rivers State within 24 hours or we may be forced to draw the attention of the National Assembly on this illegality. CP Mbu should be ashamed that his evil acts are about causing IGP Abubakar his job.

“We also condemn equivocally the use of hoodlums from neighbouring Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states to disrupt the peace of Rivers State by misguided PDP politicians in collaboration with their Police partners in the names of rallies as was the case yesterday by a non-existent Nkwerre Group all in the futile efforts of declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State by the Federal Government which will never materialise.

“We urge Rivers Sate people and all residents in the state to continue to pray for sanity to be restored to the minds of these misguided, disgruntled and debased minded fellows for God to intervene in order to allow peace to prevail in the state.”

•Photo shows embattled Governor Amaechi.

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