Tag: invites

Tho killed two Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials in Ikorodu, on the outskirts of Lagos, on Wednesday?

This is the question President Goodluck Jonathan sought an answer to from the police at a meeting in Abuja yesterday.

The President had invited the police leadership over the Civil Defence’s claim that its men, Gabriel Adaji and Innocent Akegbe were killed by some policemen.

The incident was said to have occurred during a clash between the police and Civil Defence over some arrested pipeline vandals.

The Police team was led by the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) ‘A’, Suleiman Fakai, in the absence of the Inspector General (IG) Mohammed Abubakar, who was said to have travelled.

The meeting was a follow-up to the one the president held with the NSCDC on Wednesday evening.

Also in Fakai’s Police delegation were Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko; Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Anti-Vandalism, Friday Ibadin, and the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer (DFPRO) Frank Mba, a Chief Superintendent (CSP).

At the meeting which lasted less than one hour, the President stressed the need for cooperation among the sister security agencies.

After the meeting, Mba told reporters that the police came to brief the president on the clash, adding that the police presented their perspective of the report and the facts.

He said: “The meeting was just one of those routine visits where the police leadership briefs the president on co-operational related issues. Basically that is why we are here this morning. Of course, that (the clash between policemen and officials of the NSCDC) is one of the issues we discussed and we also have to come in here to give the president a police perspective on that report and that is exactly what the leadership of the police has done; giving the president a comprehensive report of what actually transpired, from police perspective and actually presenting the facts as they were.”

He, however, declined comment on the alleged killing, saying the president had been “properly briefed and the facts would become public later”.

Yesterday, the police denied ambushing the NSCDC’s officials at Ikorodu.

A Civil Defence official, who was in the team, has purportedly said the police did not ambush them.

He was also reported to have said that his colleagues were killed during a shoot-out with the police.

He said he was not aware that anybody was killed in the operation until his commander informed him of the killing.

The NSCDC had told The Nation on Wednesday that 14 of its men were on anti-pipeline vandalism operation and had arrested some suspects when they were attacked.

NSCDC alleged that its officials were heading for their Lagos headquarters when policemen allegedly opened fire on them. The police’s action was said to have aided the vandals’ escape.

The official said the incident was not an ambush but an operational disagreement.

He said, there was an argument on who was supposed to guard the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) facility which degenerated into a gun duel.

A police Inspector and his colleagues, he said, came in a Toyota Camry car, adding that because the Inspector was in mufti and was also rude to their team leader, “he was bundled, handcuffed and chained before being forced into one of our patrol vehicles”.

The NSCDC official said a rank and file who came with the Inspector called for reinforcement.

He said: “Around midnight, we had just finished operations and we were getting the suspects into our vans when a Toyota Car pulled up. Two men alighted from the car. One of the men was in mufti, wielding a pistol while the other, a police sergeant in uniform, wielded an AK47 rifle.

“We were in uniform; so, my boss, DSC Olufemi asked the man in uniform to identify himself and he said he was an Inspector. The man started arguing with us, saying we had no right to be there since we did not inform the police before coming for the operation. An argument ensued and my boss ordered us to disarm and handcuff the Inspector.

“We handcuffed him, collected his service pistol, walkie-talkie, and Police Identity card. As we were about dragging him into one of their standby Hilux vehicles, a phone call was put to the Police Unit Commander, reporting the situation and some policemen came from nowhere and started shooting at us.”

The NSCDC official said his colleagues fired back, adding that the gun duel led to the death of Adaji and Akegbe.

It was learnt that a Civil Defence official was arrested by the police and is being detained at the command Headquarters in Ikeja.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has invited merger parties for talks today on the controversy surrounding the formation of proxy African Peoples Congress (APC) and the All Patriotic Citizens.

But the merger parties yesterday wrote INEC on why they cannot honour the invitation.

They claimed that all their leaders cannot be immediately available for the meeting due to what was attributed to “logistic challenge of calling all the leaders to converge on Abuja.”

The merger parties are Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC); the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a part of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

The three main opposition parties on February 6, merged into the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But two groups, allegedly sponsored by some members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), emerged to file applications for registration of proxy African Peoples Congress and All Patriotic Citizens with the acronym APC.

The merger parties however insisted that APC remains their “Intellectual property”.

It was gathered that the merger parties last week sought audience with INEC on the alleged “fraud” and official fraud trailing the proxy APCs.

But the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, was said to be away in South Africa on official assignment.

But as part of moves to resolve the crisis, investigation revealed that INEC on Wednesday sent a letter of invitation to the merger parties for talks.

A highly-placed source said: “INEC has written the merger parties for an audience on Friday. The letter of invitation was actually sent on Wednesday. The essence is to interact with these parties on observations they had made on the use of the acronym APC.

“But in a reply to INEC, the merger parties said they cannot honour the invitation because most of its leaders are not around.

“So, as at 9pm on Thursday, it was apparent that the meeting might not hold.”

Another source said: “ I think the merger parties are uncomfortable with the short notice given by INEC on such a sensitive matter like this.

“These parties are also unsure if the INEC meeting would be attended by the so-called representatives of the proxy APCs because the invitation letter was inexplicit.

“These opposition leaders do not want to confer legitimacy on usurpers, who are trying to abuse the nation’s party system.”