John Diidi
Chairman Rivers State Civil Society organization, Enefa Georgewill, has condemned the proposed arming of the neighborhood watch officers by Rivers State Government.
He made this known while stating his views on the provisions of the neighborhood watch bill in Port Harcourt, saying the government lacks the mechanism to regulate the excesses of the members of the security outfit.
“We are against the arming of vigilante or civilians in this state. Of course We were all here in 2003, when the Niger Delta Vigilante was armed, in the name of supplementary security and we all saw the results.
“We don’t have the machineries to checkmate these guns, therefore we are saying that civilians should not be armed.
“We were at the Assembly at the committee stage and we made our positions very very clear, that the arming of the corps should be expunged”
Enefa Georgewill who said the civil society organization is not against the security outfit, called on the Rivers State Government to review the arms bearing provision of the law.
“We want to state that, we’re not opposed to the Corps. All we are saying is that the Corps should be an intelligence gathering unit and not a combatant unit.
As a way of advise, the Rivers State government should listen to the voice of reason by looking for a way to expunge the part of army of the Corps.
