The 15-man panel set up by Police Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris to investigate the violence and killings that marred last year’s parliamentary rerun in Rivers State has submitted its report. But, the report is another source of rift between the police and Governor Nyesom Wike, who believes the exercise is meant to tarnish his image. Correspondent FAITH YAHAYA reports
There seems to be no end to the controversy generated by the handling of the violence and other infractions that characterised last year’s December 10 parliamentary rerun in Rivers State. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been trading blames and refused to accept responsibility for events that led to the death of two police officers. The officers were beheaded. So far, that was the casualty recorded as both parties are yet to come out to say they lost anyone, owing to the violence that led to the dismissal of six police officers who were said to have compromised, and the redeployment of the Chief Security Officer (CSO) attached to Governor Nyesome Wike, DSP Promise Nwosu. The governor described the removal of his CSO as an embarrassment and an attempt to expose his life to danger. Also, 23 electoral officers were said to have compromised. They are already facing trial.
Before the election, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, had invited leaders of both parties to agree on a non-violence pact and work for a free and fair poll. On the July 26, last year, as part of efforts to guarantee a violence-free election, a meeting was held by the IGP, the Director General of Department of State Services, Musa Daura, Wike and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. The Director General of NIMASA, Dakuku Peterside, was also present at the meeting.
According to a statement by the immediate past police spokesman, Don Awaunah, the meeting deliberated on the need to have a peaceful, free and fair election devoid of violence, which was the hallmark of the previous elections in the state.
The police disclosed that Amaechi and Wike resolved to be irrevocably committed to lasting peace and vouched to play by the rules in the election. They also agreed to prevail on their supporters to adhere to their commitment to peace and security. They also agreed to convene a meeting in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, aimed at further solidifying the commitment to peace.
Also, as part of preparations for the election, a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), in charge of Operations, Joshak Habila, was deployed alongside some Commissioners of Police to ensure that the process was free and fair.
In addition to the senior officers, no fewer than 28,000 policemen from different units of the police, helicopters, and gun boats, were also deployed to ensure a smooth process.
After the meeting, one would have expected a free and fair election as anticipated. but, the reverse was the case. The violence led to the death of two police officers. Many police officers in their thousands were deployed to the state, but that did not ensure a free process as envisaged.
Two police officers were beheaded and electoral officers were accused of compromise. To forestall future occurrence, the IG, set up a 15-man panel, which comprised of officers from the Police and Department of State Security Service (DSS) to look into the matter. They were given 30 days to investigate and report back to the IGP. The panel, among other things, was to investigate; the role of security agents before, during and after the election; examine the role of any police officer or security agent whose actions or activities individually or collectively was detrimental to the good conduct of the elections; conduct a forensic analysis on the audio report released by Sahara Reporters as it concerns the election and examine any other matter that was relevant to the conduct of the elections. “I hereby use this opportunity to implore well meaning Nigerian, especially INEC, Rivers Sate Government, to give the panel maximum support and cooperate with this investigative panel”, the IG urged the stakeholders.
When the panel was set up, Wike condemned it, saying the panel will be biased.
While the investigation was ongoing, six police officers were found culpable of total disrespect to orders and directives. They had compromised, and engaged in unprofessional.
The officers are Inspr. Eyong Victor, Sgt. Peter Ekpo, Sgt. Oguni Goodluck, Sgt. Okpe Ezekiel, Sgt. Orji Nwoke and Sgt. Tanko Akor.
After 30 days, the panel submitted its findings to the IGP. According to the report, over N111.3million was recovered from 23 officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who were involved in the election. The officials have been indicted for their involvement in the violence.
Also, six police officers who were indicted over the role they played had been dismissed. The findings were contained in the report of the Joint Investigation Panel. The panel attributed the violence to lawlessness and leadership failure.
The Chairman of the 15-man panel, DCP Damian Okoro, during the presentation of the report, said: “the sum of N111,300,000 was recovered from 23 INEC Electoral Officers. Out of N360million, N15 million was given to each of them while three senior electoral officers were given N20million each.”
The committee has established cases of misconduct on the part of some electoral officers and law enforcement agents, who allowed themselves to be compromised. The task given to the panel was quite challenging because of the tense political and security situation in the state, especially the prevalence of violent crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping, and politically motivated killings, by militant groups that enjoy funding and protection of desperate politicians.
Okoro said: “These lawless elements target, not only the political opponents of their sponsor, but also law enforcement agents, especially the Police, mostly within the Ogba/Ndoni/Egbema Local Government Area, which is the axis of evils of cultism.
“The violence that occurred in Rivers State, before during and after the rerun election, was a reflection of lawlessness and leadership failure of narrow -minded politicians and their gullible supporters. Oftentimes, politicians make inflammatory statements that incite their supporters into avoidable violence that results in the destruction of lives and properties. Regrettably, these politicians often fail to realise that as very important personalities in their own right, they are the embodiment of some values cherished by their supporters.
“Apart from their utterances, politicians in their desperation for political power also arm thugs and unleash terror on their opponents. When motivated by their sponsors, these criminal elements can do anything to further the political aspirations of their principals, including extra- judicial killings and rigging of elections with impunity. We discovered that failure of leadership and followership rather than law enforcement, was responsible for political upheaval in the state”.
The IG, however, claimed that the panel wrote to the governor, but, he refused to cooperate. “The panel tackled what has been going on in this country where politicians have turned election into a do or die affair and we have been failing in this country because we have allowed things to derail to the level it is now.
The Police chief, who decried the outcome of the election, said; “I see no reason why a rerun election will lead to the beheading of our officers who were there to do their lawful duties. I believe that the report will go a long way to put an end to individuals seeing election as a do or die affair. We will take appropriate actions in conjunction with the Attorney General of the Federation to put an end to most of the abuse and electoral violence in this country,” he said.
On the doubt expressed by Wike, who claimed that the panel was setup to tarnish his image, Idris said: “It is a joint investigation and that means it is between the police and SSS and I think the whole of this country have confidence in both agencies to provide security for them and to deal with issues that are detrimental to peaceful coexistence of Nigerians in any part of this country. We are in a democracy and everybody have the right of free speech. Anybody can wake up any day and say anything, but what I am saying is that you have to go through the report to see the processes we took before arriving at where we are. The investigation was open and very transparent. We wrote to the governor. they went to meet him but in his own wisdom, he refused to cooperate. We believe that what determines outcome of this report is the transparency and the good will. Whoever that is involved has been arrested and isolating the governor will be a disservice to this country. The report should be seen as a corrective measure. Those indicted cuts across different classes of life.
Idris added: “the situation in Rivers is an indication that leaders and politicians have a lot to contribute to the smoothness of an election and when you have people in leadership who do not take the responsibility of being a leader, this is what happens and they are issues that constitute threat to ordinary Nigerians.
While affirming that the electoral violence witnessed in Rivers state will be the last that will be witnessed in any part of the country, Idris said: “All these are steps taken to ensure that we get to the bottom of violence and by the grace of God, Rivers will be the last state that we are going to have this kind of experience. it will never happen again.”
As Nigerians await what the AGF’s recommendation would be on the report of the panel, more revelation came out on what the balance from the N360million alleged bribed was used for.
The Nation found out that the money was used to buy choice vehicles, houses and renovate some other ones. Findings revealed: “The panel recovered discovered that some of them bought houses, cars and even renovated their existing houses with the money.
“The panel also discovered that some gave out money to their relatives while some others invested money. Several cars were recovered and they would be tendered during prosecution in court.
The Source further gave more insight on what the panel unraveled during investigation, saying, “In the audio tape that went viral, the governor was mentioning 8,8,7; and what he was referring to was the officials of INEC. He gave the leaders of the INEC officials from the three states, N20million each. They brought outsiders for the election because they wanted neutral body to ensure transparency but they were bribed by the governor. They were 23 in number, eight came from Osun or Oyo, eight from Plateau and seven from Anambra state. If you listened to the tape that went viral, you will discover that there was a part where the governor was shouting, kill them because they didn’t do their work well. The three states where officials came from have a leader. The leaders were the ones that were given N20million and others were given N15qwmillion. So, it was the leaders that he was threatening to kill. As mentioned by the IG, the report will be sent to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN) will now go through it and necessary action will be taken against those indicted. He is the Chief Law of the Federation”.
On whether the report was doctored and if it was just a political move to tarnish the image of the governor who belongs to the opposition party, the source said: “where did the police get the huge amount of money from? Those cars and houses recovered, where did the panel get it from? Is it police money or something? 23 people have been arrested and they all confessed. It was through them that the money was recovered, it was through them that the cars were also recovered. The 23 people arrested, the panel have their video confessions and they all wrote their official statement with their hand. They are all educated people and they used their own handwriting to write their confession and they also talked on video. They videos will be provided during prosecution. All documents are available on how they were summoned to the government house, how they were given the money inside the government house and how vehicles were brought to them to move with the Ghana Must Go bags, and how they were moved to their hotels. Everything was confessed to on video. This is not a political issue. This is a case where money that was supposed to be used to build schools, hospitals, roads and others social amenities have been squandered. So, whoever does wrong will be made to carry his or her cross irrespective of political affiliation. So, that is the true position of everything. Everything is there and all the people that the money was recovered from are alive, they confessed both in written form and in videos.
On why they were not presented to the press that time, the source simply said: “we could not present them that time because they are INEC staff and they are yet to be dismissed. Also, we want the Attorney General to take action first before they would be interviewed but all evidences are on ground. It is a very clear case”.
Fingers are crossed, eyes are wide opened to see how the whole drama between the Police and Wike will end. Only time will tell who will be vindicated?
