The Police has said that they withdrew Officers from the 23 council Secretariats in Rivers State after the conduct of the LG elections.
Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun who made this known in a statement on Tuesday, said they would have been accused of taking sides in the post-election crisis if they had not unsealed the secretariats.
According to him, they were preparing for the elections when a High Court in Abuja restrained the Police from taking part in the process, adding that the force acted professionally.
He said,“We were not supposed to have any issues in Rivers. The issues were avoidable. We acted very professionally and followed legal and democratic tenets.
“We were preparing for the LG elections in Rivers State when a high court in Abuja said Police should not take part in the election. A high court in Rivers said the Police should perform its constitutional role. Another court, this time, a Federal High Court again came up with an order barring the Police from taking part in the election.
“As IGP I sent the 3 different court orders to our Legal department because we have very sound lawyers including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria for advice. The advice was that we should go with Federal High Court order and stay off.