Police Report on Wike Convoy's Attack Biased, Says Rivers Govt

The Rivers State Government on Wednesday rejected the Nigeria Police report on the clash of the convoys of the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, and the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, saying the “biased report is a sad development for the police force that have chosen to disgrace themselves.”

The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Emma Okah, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt  noted that the state Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, had in a statement issued two days ago, said the convoy incident was a minor accident and that investigations did not show how the outrider and his bike were knocked down, even though the man is alive and in his custody.

He also noted that the police commissioner said the governor was 400 metres away from the crime scene but admitted that the governor’s CSO queried a lot of SARS officers who were around the scene.

“This is turning logic upside down,” Okah said, adding that the police did not investigate the matter but acted a script written for it by the Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Mr Akin Fakorede, whom he described as a “bosom friend and hatchet man of the Minister of Transportation and the APC.

“From the totality of the statement of the state Police, it is very obvious that plans and strategies have reached advanced stages to eliminate the state Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, and the incident of last Saturday is a manifestation of the plans of the police,” Okah said.

According to the commissioner, “It is wicked and wrong for the police to treat a state governor like a subordinate of a minister, more so when the police have been receiving tremendous logistics and financial support from the Rivers State Government. Not to recognise the priority of the governor’s convoy over any other convoy in the state except those allowed by law is a national embarrassment. Could this be the reason why the Nigerian police were recently voted as the worst in the world?

“It is deliberate falsehood for the police to say that at the time the outrider got to Nkpogu Junction and intercepted the minister’s black Lexus 750 SUV, the convoy of the governor was 400 metres away. It is even more satanic for the same police to say that they did not know how the outrider fell from his bike when everybody, including the Minister of Transportation, said that he was the one who intentionally knocked down the bike and the rider.”

Okah explained: “The governor’s convoy was a short one on that day and the outrider who is the first part of the convoy was certainly not up to 60 metres away from the governor.  If the police was in doubt as to who knocked down the outrider, why did they not ask the rider who they have since detained and are planning to dismiss from service for doing his job?

“It further mangles logic that the police are confused as to who has the priority convoy right in the state. Is the office of minister above that of the governor of a state in Nigeria? It is wrong for the police to accord priority to the convoy of a minister over and above that of the state governor, confirming accusations that the police have low regard for the government and people of the state.”

He said the convoy attack case is a litmus test for the image of the police which has been badly battered.

 

“When a police high command indulges in deliberate falsehood and closes its eyes to the truth, the people cannot trust it and the result is an express invitation to anarchy as the police is doing in Rivers State” the statement added, asserting that the police are being clever by half as the attack on the governor’s convoy by the Minister of Transportation is not a minor accident, but a deliberate disregard for the law and office of the state governor, and if you like, it is a rehearsal of the plot to eliminate the governor in connivance with the police.

“Even if it was an accident, there should be a cause and an effect. There should be a party who is at fault. Even a traffic warden who raises his hand to control a traffic is obeyed by all. Are the police saying that it is right for the Minister of Transportation to knock down a policeman who stopped him? Why are the police avoiding a preliminary finding of guilt against the Minister?” He queried.

Okah said the claim by the police that they would discipline officers found blameworthy in the ugly incident was the usual pattern and trick to shield SARS officers in the minister’s convoy and dismiss police officers in the convoy of the governor and frighten those who might want to defend the governor in case of future attack.

“While we agree that disciplinary action should be for erring officers, can the Commissioner of Police tell Nigerians why he had refused to explain the presence of about 50 men of the SARS and their commander at the crime scene? Is the Minister of Transportation the owner of SARS? Why has the Commissioner of Police continued to look the other way despite repeated complaints against a younger officer, Fakorede, and the SARS he commands? If anybody is to face disciplinary action, it is the Commander and men of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who gave the minister the courage to violate the convoy of the Governor and knock down his outrider,” he said.