Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has announced the review of the existing night-time curfew in the state.
In a state-wide broadcast on Monday at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital, he noted that the initial starting time of 10pm has been adjusted to 7pm until further notice.
The governor explained that the time was adjusted by the State Security Council after an appraisal of the recent security situation in which seven police officers were killed in another overnight attack on two police stations and a checkpoint.
Before the broadcast, the governor had met with the Police High Command in the state where he announced a cash donation of N20 million each to the families of the 11 policemen killed in the attacks on security formations in the state in the past weeks.
He described the killing of innocent policemen as sad and unfortunate, stressing that the security officials did no wrong but were killed doing their job of protecting the people.
According to Governor Wike, there is no amount of money that can be equated to life but as a state, the government will always identify with security personnel who lose their lives in course of doing their job.
He stated that no form of coercion would make Rivers become a part of any secessionist movement, saying the government was committed to giving the police the necessary support to overcome the challenges in the state.
Read the full text of the governor’s broadcast below:
My dear people of Rivers State
These are extraordinary times for our country and our State. Last week Friday, we witnessed yet another multiple armed ambush on police checkpoints along the East-West road which resulted in the cold-blooded murder of 7 police officers.
We again express our condolence to the families of the dead officers and the State’s Police Command for this irreparable loss and pray for the peaceful repose of their innocent souls.
We have reviewed the way and manner the recent attacks were executed and discovered that the perpetrators, who disguised themselves as security officers, moved in unhindered from Oyigbo to launch the attack.
The nation’s security agencies are on their trail and we are confident that they will all be arrested soon and brought to justice.
We wish to assure every resident that we are not intimidated by the sporadic and cowardly attacks on predetermined security targets by faceless criminals on our soil; neither will we be cowed into succumbing to a baseless and doomed secessionists agenda.
However, as a further step towards enhancing our collective safety, we have reviewed the existing night-time curfew across the 23 Local Government Areas, which will now start from 7pm and ends at 6am until further notice from tomorrow 11th May 2021.
The security agencies are hereby directed to note the new curfew time, ensure strict compliance and effectively deal with any person or group that violates or attempts to violate it.
We have reviewed, and for the moment, declined the pressure on the state government to activate our youth to defend the state from these terrorists because we don’t want to complicate our very delicate security situation by creating opportunities for some other monsters to emerge.
However, we are determined to deploy everything at our disposal to advance the safety and security of lives and property in our state and nothing will stop us from defeating the evil forces presently threatening our individual and collective security.
We continue to appeal to members of the public to understand with us in the midst of the economic troubles that our actions may inflict as our one and only aim is to achieve and sustain the maximum security of lives and property in our dear State.
We further appeal to the public to understand that security is everybody’s business and play their own roles, especially in passing intelligence information to the law enforcement agencies to process and take pre-emptive measures to counter and advance our collective security.
Once again, thank you for your cooperation as we continue to work with the nation’s security agencies to keep us safe and secure.
Thank you and may God bless Rivers State.
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