High Court Gives Go-Ahead To Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency To Continue Training
A High Court in Port-Harcourt has given go-ahead to Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency to continue with training of recruits of the agency.
The court gave the go-ahead in its judgement delivered by Justice Simeon Amadi on Wednesday which ruled against the action by Nigerian Army which interrupted the training programme of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency.
The Nigerian Army had last year interrupted the training programme of recruits of the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency at Nonwa in Tai Local Government Area of the state alleging the agency was training militias.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port-Harcourt, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, had said in a statement that the Army discovered an illegal training camp of militias saying that the Army found over one hundred recruits receiving military-type of training.
However, Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, responding to the action by the Nigerian Army said that the state government involved Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and federal agencies to ensure only law-abiding citizens were recruited by the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency.
Wike said the agency was set up by legislation of Rivers State House of Assembly to assist security agencies in the state gather intelligence in the fight against criminality and described the action of Nigerian Army as “the worst act of irresponsibility aimed at instigating insecurity in the state”.
Governor Wike had said: “The Army is not concerned about the killing of soldiers in Borno. They are only interested in creating insecurity in Rivers State. If you don’t want Rivers State to be safe then Nigeria will not be safe.
“Zamfara and Kogi States have vigilance groups. They commissioned them and the Chief of Army Staff did nothing. The House of Assembly passed a law approving the agency. The Chief of Army Staff did not challenge the law in court but… sent troops to invade the training camp”.
It will be recalled that the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency went to court to challenge the disruption of the agency’s training programme by the Nigerian Army saying that the disruption by the Army was an infringement of the fundamental human rights of recruits of the Neighbourhood agency.
Justice Amadi held in the judgement that the screening and training of recruits of Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency was constitutional and that it was not an illegal or militia group as was alleged by the Nigerian Army and awarded the sum of One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000.00) as cost to Nigerian Army to pay as damages.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency, Dr Uche Mike Chukwuma, has hailed the judgement by the court.
Dr Chukwuma said in an interview on Thursday that the Army had “no constitutional role to have done what they did” since the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency was formed by law passed by Rivers State House of Assembly.
He assured that he would do his best to improve security situation in Rivers State through the agency and called for necessary support to help him achieve set goals.
