Tambuwal Blasts Abuja Police Boss, Mbu, Over Protest Ban

Tambuwal blasts Abuja Police boss, Mbu, over
protest ban
Chinenye Ugonna
Published: June 5,2014
The speaker says the culture of impunity in
governance must be halted.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Aminu Tambuwal, has lambasted the
Commissioner of Police for Abuja, Joseph Mbu,
for ordering a ban on protests urging increased
government action for the release of abducted
schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.
The ban, imposed by Mr. Mbu on Monday, was
reversed a day after following widespread
condemnation.
The police high command denounced Mr. Mbu’s
action, saying protesters were free to hold daily
sit-in, provided they remain peaceful.
The protests have held for more than a month
since more than 200 girls were kidnapped by
Boko Haram in Borno State.
In a speech marking the end of the third
legislative year, Thursday, Mr. Tambuwal said Mr.
Mbu’s “audaciousness” in ordering the ban
showed Nigeria’s “descent into the pits of
reckless disregard for the rights of citizens”.
The speaker said the ban was “unacceptable” and
vowed that the House will treat the police
commissioner’s order with the “seriousness that
it deserves”.
“To buttress our descent into the pits of reckless
disregard for the rights of citizens, the nation
recently woke up to the sad dawn of a
Commissioner of Police acting on his own
initiative, without clearance from his superiors
and in flagrant contravention of the clear
Constitutional guarantees of the right of citizens
audaciously purporting to ban the peaceful
assembly of Nigerians,” Mr. Tambuwal said.
“This is an unacceptable abridgement of the
rights of Nigerians to freedom of speech,
association and peaceful assembly, and this
House must treat this matter with the seriousness
it deserves.”
A controversial figure, Mr. Mbu was drafted to
Abuja as police chief after a turbulent run in
Rivers State where he maintained a testy
relationship with the governor, Chibuike Amaechi.
While in Rivers State, the police commissioner
repeatedly clamped down on protests and
meetings defying widespread criticisms of his
conduct.
Mr. Mbu has been accused of being
unprofessional and doing the bidding of President
Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr. Tambuwal said the “fact that the office of the
Inspector-General of Police felt compelled to deny
the action of the Police Commissioner only goes
to underscore the audaciousness of the conduct
of the Police commissioner.”
“As important as all our duties and functions as
the legislative arm in a democratic government
are, none is more important than our duty to
protect and preserve the rights guaranteed to all
Nigerians by our Constitution. Any attempt by
anybody to infringe on the rights of Nigerians is a
direct affront to this House. This House must
therefore take necessary measures to ensure that
such sacrilege does not repeat itself anywhere in
Nigeria.
The culture of impunity at the highest levels of
governance in Nigeria must be brought to a halt,”
he said.