Elder statesman and nonagenarian, Chief Edwin Clark,
on Thursday petitioned both President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Security
Adviser (NSA), Major-General Mohammed Monguno (rtd), over the illegal and
unauthorised search of his residence in Abuja by four officers of the Nigerian
Police Force.
Armed policemen had last Tuesday invaded the
Asokoro residence of Clark over allegation of stockpiling arms in his house.
Though the elder statesman said he accepted the
public apology of the police, nonetheless, he wants the matter to be thoroughly
investigated and the real mastermind of the raid exposed.
The South-south leader has alleged that the Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Yusuf Kolo; Commander of the Inspector General of
Police (IG) Special Tactical Squad and Assistant Inspector General of Police
(Federal Intelligence), Umoru Usman, were those who ordered the raid and search
on his residence.
In the petitions with reference No
KACCL/PET/KA/76/18 and dated September 6, 2018, signed by his lawyer, Dr.
Kayode Ajulo, Clark wondered why the police authorities, which are always in
the know of the masterminds and conspirators of the invasion, are going after
the four junior officers who were merely carrying out instructions from their
superiors.
Part of the Petition read: "Our client did
brief us that at about 12:30p.m. on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, officers and
men of the IG Tactical Squad (a unit under the direct command of the Inspector
General of Police) alongside journalists invaded and ransacked his Asokoro
residence on the pretext that they were in search of arms and ammunitions.
However, despite the siege and search, they found nothing incriminating on our client.
“Our client further briefed us, and we also confirmed
that at the point where officers and men of the IG Tactical Squad were to
commence their search having introduced themselves, stated that they were
acting under the instructions of the Inspector General of Police and Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Yusuf Kolo, as their commander, and that former Bayelsa
State SSG and former Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power, Boladei Igali, who was with our client at the venue
of the search, put a call through to Assistant Inspector General of Police
(Federal Intelligence) Umoru Usman Shehu, who spoke with the leader of the
search party, and gave authority to go ahead with the search.
"Having so searched in vain, the IG, in the
face of the impudent search conducted on the property of our client, has
publicly denied any knowledge of the said search and has immediately ordered
the arrest of the four junior officers who were responsible for the search and
tendered a public apology to our client.”
Clark lawyer further stated that "taking into
the consideration the circumstances of the invasion and uncivilized search
conducted on his property, and the attendant embarrassment caused to our client
and what he stands for, it is imperative to hold the view that there are
serious questions which ought to be determined forthwith and without mincing
words.
"It
will be rather unfortunate for junior officers and men of the IG Tactical Squad
who were at best acting on the orders of their superiors to fall prey in this
regard."
Ajulo stressed that Clark had been a frontline
advocate against taking up arms by the youths of the Niger-Delta, and has been
responsible for brokering peace between the Niger-Delta and several
administrations in Nigeria.
In leading the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the
lawyer said Clark had joined other stakeholders to put a halt to youth
restiveness and wanton destruction of oil pipelines in the region and
ultimately restore peace, thereby increasing production of Nigeria’s sustenance
in oil production and encouraging foreign participation.
He said the invasion of his Asokoro-Abuja residence
has since fanned wrong embers, caused uproar and pandemonium in the Niger Delta
region of which our clients and others have been assiduously working to
curtail.
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