New Twist, Security Shakeup In Rivers State As Police Redeploys ‘Wike’s Men’ Out Of Government House

The political crisis in Rivers State has taken a new turn with the decision of the Police authorities in Abuja to redeploy some top security officers who served with Nyesom Wike when he was Governor and were inherited by Siminalayi Fubara when he became the Rivers State Governor. The redeployment instruction of the officers believed to be loyal to Wike was contained in a signal dated 31st October and signed by the Police Force Secretary, AIG Olarewaju Yomi Oladimeji. The security shake-up affected personnel such as the Government’s House Chief Security Officer (CSO), Promise Nwosu and some other top brass of the Police security setup around Governor Fubara. It was however observed that the affected officers were only posted out of the Government House but remain in the state and now head other strategic police formations and units in Rivers State. Wike’s ex-Chief Security Officer, Nwosu, has now been posted to head the Special Protection Unit, SPU code-named Base 6 of the Rivers Command. Others affected by the redeployment are Irikefe London Owen, a former Camp Commandant of Rivers Government House and one Emmanuel Nwakanma. They have been deployed to head the Rivers Police Command Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) and ‘Operation Sting’ respectively. “Operation Sting’ was a special police outfit launched by Wike in 2019 to tackle security challenges in the state. It was gathered that posting the officers out of the Government House may bring temporary relief to Governor Fubara and his loyalists but the fact that they still head critical police units within Rivers State remains a source of concern for the Governor.

Sources close to the Governor as quoted by PM News expressed fears that the redeployment move was to hijack all the security architecture in Rivers State in favour of Wike for easy impeachment of Governor Fubara. Rivers State witnessed some political upheavals last week including an attempt to impeach Governor Fubara. Attempts by stakeholders to broker peace between Wike and Fubara have so far failed to yield the desired results.