Rivers Neighbourhood Watch and Safety Agency drags Nigerian Army to court

The Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency (RIVNESCA) has dragged the Nigerian Army before a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt over the invasion and disruption its training activities at in Nonwa, Tai Local government Area.

Recall that Soldiers numbering over one hundred, on Thursday, November 27, 2018, invaded the training ground of the agency.

The soldiers who chased away the trainees also arrested the coordinator of the agency and the instructors and cordoned off the area.

Also joined in the suit is the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malamari and the Chief of Army Staff (CAS), Lt Gen Tukur Buratai.

Addressing a coalition of Civil Society groups and newsmen in RIVNESCA headquarters in Port Harcourt during an interactive session, the director general of the agency, Dr. Uche Mike Chukwuma explained that the organ resolved to proceed to the law court to prove to the world that what the army did was illegal, unconstitutional and unacceptable to civilized and democratic societies.

“RIVNESCA was established by law and duly assented by the governor and it is a purely civil intelligence outfit which also exists in about 30 states of the Federation, and if by any means, the Nigerian Army was opposed to its established should have followed through the police or legal process to truncate its existence”, he declared.

According to him, “we followed due process, liaising with the police, civil defence, DSS, Man-O-War and indeed the army high command before the training session commenced. So there was justification for such level of impunity and highhandedness melted out to the trainees.

Dr Chukwuma commended the civil society in the state for its boldness by protesting the army’s action against the agency, promising that RIVNESCA would never relent on its mandate as enshrined in the enabling law.