The All Progressive Congress, APC has stated the party’s reasons for opposing the Neighborhood Watch Law.
The Rivers State Publicity secretary of the party, Chris Finebone said during an interview with Punch that the party will form a parallel Neighborhood watch corps in the state as a countermeasure against the Governor Wike’s Neighborhood watch.
He said: The APC is against the Neighbourhood Safety Corps because of several reasons. Principally, the Neighbourhood Safety Corps bill, which the governor recently signed into law, is fraught with several noxious, obnoxious and toxic clauses that will turn Rivers State into a killing field. For example, the law empowers the members of the Corps to carry arms and this is in conflict with the powers given to the police and other federal security agencies. In other words, the Neighbourhood Safety Corps is a state police established through the backdoor without the necessary safeguards. There are other provisions of the law which make it a time bomb that will incinerate the state. The control of the agency is totally in the hands of the PD, making it an armed wing of the party.
On the claims by Governor Wike that the law will provide jobs for the youth, he said:
“This is the most horrendous story to come from a governor of a state. This is beyond being a false statement, it is pure mischief and dangerous. Governor Nyesom Wike is anti-people and has no record of employing a single youth in Rivers State since he became governor. We challenge him to name a single young man that he has legitimately employed or caused to be employed since he became governor. Arming youths under a highly questionable and noxious agency laws to bear arms is merely sending youths to their early graves. This is not the type of jobs youths of Rivers State desire and deserve. Truth is that Governor Wike simply wants to recruit those he said will act as ‘peoples’ army that he would use for the 2019 elections. Remember, he keeps saying that the people will resist the Nigeria Police for him during the 2019 elections, those to do that are members of the Neighbourhood Safety Corps. I am sure that you can foresee the danger in that situation.
On whether the law will affect the outcome of the 2019 election, he maintained:
“Our disapproval and eventual shooting down of the evil Neighbourhood Corps will avert the imminent danger that may mar the 2019 elections in Rivers State. More than anything else, doing away with the corps will avert the likely and needless bloodshed that may result from their involvement in the elections which is the real reason Governor Wike set up the corps. He seems not to have seen the wider dimension to an armed Neighbourhood Corps; he is only looking at the electoral gains he will harvest from it.
“APC members cannot get involved in that charade called Neighbourhood Corps. Of course, we have already advised them to distance themselves from the corps. We have our own idea of steps we will take against the corps and this includes, but not limited to robustly resisting it with our own parallel corps, and you can take that to the bank.
On the argument that it was an APC lawmaker that presented the bill at the house of assembly, he said:
“If the argument is about Hon. (Frederick) Anabraba, I would not want to delve into whether he is still an APC member or not. What I can tell you is that the Neighbourhood Corps bill was an executive bill. In any case, it is an enactment of the Rivers State House of Assembly. If it were a popular bill, will anyone begin to talk about who presented it or were part of it? The government will lay claim to it. So, that’s like begging the question. Who and who are part of it don’t make it right neither is it wrong because some lawmakers were not part of it. It is an evil creation that cannot stand and that is the position of the Rivers APC.
“We are already in court challenging that evil corps. Beyond that, we shall set up a parallel corps whose sole duty will be to watch the Neighbourhood corps across the 23 LGAs of Rivers State. We will sell the goat the same way it was sold to us”
