IHRC Slams CP Mbu Over Ban On Rally In FCT

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, June 04, (THEWILL) â€' International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has slammed the Federal Capital Territory Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, over the ban onpeaceful assembly in Nigeria capital city, Abuja.

Though the purported ban has been over-ruled by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, the Nigerian Ambassador of IHRC, Abdulrazaq O. Hamzat, described Mbu, in a statement issued Wednesday, as an unnecessary burden the police authorities must do away with to avoid unnecessarily heating up of the polity and discrediting the Nigerian Police before the Nigerian and international community.

The statement read in part: 'On 2nd of June, 2014, Federal Capital Territory Police Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Mbu, who described the peaceful assembly by respected citizens of Nigeria as lawlessness issued a ban on protests over the 234 abducted Chibok school girls in FCT, Abuja.

'It is worth to note that, freedom of association and peaceful assembly is not just a right guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution, it is a right guaranteed by the international law.

'Furthermore, for a police commissioner who should champion the cause of enforcing law to boldly come out and issue ban on citizens constitutional rights, this indicate the unwillingness of the Nigerian Government to respect its own laws as well as international law. Or an indication that some officers occupying strategic positions are unfit or unequipped with adequate knowledge regarding their duties.

'While we commend the quick intervention of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, who overruled the unreasonable ban by Mr. Mbu, we wish to state categorically state that officer Joseph Mbu is an unnecessary burden the police authorities must do away with to avoid unnecessarily heating up the polity and discrediting the Nigerian police before the Nigerian and international community.

'In this regard, Mr. Joseph Mbu, the FCT Commissioner of Police had demonstrated in words and actions that he has no adequate knowledge of the law and therefore unworthy of being a police officer, hence unfit to be a Police Commissioner.'