Amaechi asked me to release criminals – Commissioner of Police

The Commissioner of  Police, Rivers State Command, Mr. Dan Bature, has reacted to a statement credited to the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, that the state police command was exposing the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, to assassination.

Bature said in Port Harcourt on Wednesday that Amaechi was accusing the police because of their refusal to grant the state government’s request to   release criminals involved in cases of murder.

Amaechi had raised the alarm over the plot by the Peoples Democratic Party to assassinate Peterside. He also expressed lack of confidence in the police in the state.

The governor had accused the police of working for the PDP, saying while policemen attached to APC members had been removed, those attached to their counterparts in the PDP remained intact.

But Bature said that the police had merely replaced the C4I operatives around Peterside with men of the Special Protection Unit.

The C4I is a special police unit created to combat violent crimes in the state.

Bature said he was surprised that Amaechi could interpret that to mean withdrawal of police protection for the APC governorship candidate.

He described Amaechi’s allegations as false and delicate.