If Police Fail Us, Are Rivers People Prepared To Take Up Arms? Briggs Speaks Out

She took issue with the police’s selective enforcement of court orders, particularly following the recent election of 23 local government chairmen in Rivers State. Briggs condemned the police for withdrawing officers from local council secretariats, despite Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s warning that some political actors, dissatisfied with the election results, had plans to incite violence.

“We have been raising alarms since last October when this political chaos began. The witch cries at night, and the child dies in the morning; yet we search for the cause of death? We know exactly what is happening,” she stated.

Briggs pointed out that the specific local governments experiencing turmoil are those that refuse to acknowledge the expiration of their tenures over three months ago. “These local governments are the same ones whose leaders have disparaged the governor since last year,” she added.

She noted that for the past three months, the police had kept the 23 local government offices of Rivers State locked up after the tenures of the local government chairmen had ended. “And this morning, all officers were ordered to vacate the local government areas, fully aware that trouble was likely to ensue, leaving the newly elected local government chairmen vulnerable,” Briggs said.

Briggs also mentioned that the people of Rivers State had been appealing to President Bola Tinubu for over a year to intervene, but he has remained absent. “Now that chaos has erupted and local governments are in flames, the President is calling on the governor of Rivers State and unnamed individuals to ensure the safety of the state. The police are supposed to maintain order. This is both dangerous and unacceptable for the people of Rivers State,” she concluded.