Progressive Govs Forum statement on police invasion of G7 meeting

Progressive Govs Forum statement
on police invasion of G7 meeting
Yesterday, the DPO of Asokoro police division, CSP
Nnanna Ama, invaded the meeting of the G7
governors at the Kano government lodge in
Asokoro, Abuja . The Progressive Governors
Forum have released a statement condemning the
incident. Their statement below...
Nigerian Police: Now Armed Wing of PDP
The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF)
hereby registers its dismay that for the
second weekend in a row, officers of the
Nigeria Police illegally stormed and disrupted
a meeting by seven governors and other
Nigerians going about their constitutionally
guaranteed rights of association.
The police action is not only alarming but
also demonstrates clearly that the force,
instead of carrying out its constitutional
responsibilities of maintaining peace and
order in the society has become no more
than the armed wing of the ruling People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
Coming barely a week after storming the
Adamawa State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja to
disrupt a lawful meeting of like-minded individuals,
and despite public outcry at the tactics of the
police, the Force, in clear violation of all rules of
civility still went ahead to disrupt a G7 caucus
meeting at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge on
the 3rd November, 2013, in Asokoro, Abuja.
If the Nigeria Police has not become the armed
wing of the PDP, why should the Divisional Police
Officer (DPO) in charge of Asokoro Police Unit,
CSP NnannaAma, burst into the venue and order
the meeting stopped, threatening to mobilize
troops to abort it if his order was not obeyed?
For a DPO to have the impudence to force his way
into the meeting of perceived opponents of
President Goodluck Jonathan to disrupt meeting of
governors and members of the Senate and the
House of Representatives that were duly elected
by Nigerians, and also threaten them with arrest
can only indicate that the orders must have come
from the Presidency. But for the police to carry out
what is evidently an illegal order reflects a new
low in the history of the Nigerian police.
The PGF hereby condemns in totality the antics of
the Nigeria police in breaking up peaceful
meetings and harassing Nigerians, while also
calling for a probe into the PDP – Nigeria Police
relations. Is the police established and paid to
serve all Nigerians or merely to serve the interests
of the PDP? If the police have become the armed
wing of the PDP, then what differentiates it from
the terror tactics of those who seek to violently
impose their political beliefs on others?
The PGF salutes the resilience, tenacity and
patriotic commitments of the G7 Governors and all
leaders of the New PDP calls on them to continue
the fight to rescue Nigeria from the grip of a tiny
clique that has cornered the political space in
Nigeria and now regards the rights and
commonwealth of Nigerians as disposable in their
desperation to continue in office despite growing
unrest in the polity occasioned by PDP’s politics of
poverty exclusion. We wish to emphatically restate
our resolve to join hands ad work with our
colleagues in G7 and New PDP to ensure that the
current regressive trend towards authoritarianism,
increasing poverty, unemployment and
incompetent leadership is arrested.
The PGF also restates its position that another four
years of the PDP and the current administration
will spell doom for Nigeria and its over 170 million
people, thus our determination to rescue Nigeria
and provide security and prosperity for Nigerians.