Don’t sign Neighbourhood Safety Corps bill into law, Uchendu tells Wike

Senator Andrew Uchendu has warned a Governor Nyesom Wike against signing the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Bill into law

The Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Andrew Uchendu, has advised Governor Nyesom Wike not to sign into law any bill that would give guns instead of meaningful employment to the youths.

Senator Uchendu made this statement while reacting to the Rivers State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Bill that was passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly on the 15th of February, 2018.

He said: “After going through some relevant sections of the proposed vigilante bill, it is very clear to me that instead of giving our youths jobs and hope for survival, we have clearly planned to give them guns so that we will continue killing ourselves. I wonder what we want to turn our state into.

“We have knowingly or unknowingly killed ourselves for too long and I think that enough is enough.

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“Let us come up with more ingenious programmes that would give our youths better hope for tomorrow. A stitch in time saves nine.”

The Senator further stated that the bill violates the exclusivity of firearms to the Federal Government as is eshrined in the Constitution, he therefore warned the governor that assenting to it would lead to anarchy.

“The governor should not also forget that acquisition of guns, ammunitions, and explosives are within the Exclusive Legislative List of the Federal Government, as contained in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Hence, it is my firm belief that this bill would do more harm than good to the already heated up polity,” he stressed.