Police Chief Ibrahim Idris has ordered a probe into the Saturday clash between security detail of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and those of Minister of Transportation Chibuile Amaechi in Port Harcourt.
Although nobody died during the clash, many were injured and the rifle of a policeman was snatched at the Trans-Amadi Layout.
Both Wike and Amaechi, who are former allies, claim thay escaped assassination.
Rivers Police Command spokesman Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed that a probe had been launched into the incident and the involvement of policemen. He did not give details.
The state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Wike’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Promise Wosu, a Superintendent of Police (SP), and other security personnel who were involved in the bloody clash.
In a statement by its Chairman Chief Davies Ikanya, made available by his media adviser Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the APC said: “Reports made available to us by Prince Tonye Princewill, an associate to Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who was in the same car with the Minister of Transportation, indicated that Wike’s dispatch rider pulled a pistol to assassinate Amaechi, but missed his target, after which Amaechi’s Aide-de-Camp (ADC), Mr. Seimeikumo Debewari, intervened to save the minister from further assassination attempt.
“Prince Princewill stated that he was at a loss if the attack was not an assassination attempt on the Transportation Minister, somebody should explain to him in a clearer sentence why Wike’s despatch rider failed to stop the two security vehicles of the minister, which had already crossed, but decided for whatever reasons, to block the vehicle in which the minister was driving.
“Prince Princewill also asked why the attempt by Amaechi, who was driving the car, to navigate his vehicle out of danger was prevented by two security men from Rivers governor’s convoy, who pulled their pistols to shoot him, but when Wike’s security men realised that the vehicle that the minister was driving was bullet-proofed, they resorted to hitting the jeep with the butts of their guns and in the process broke the right driving mirror and attempted to break Amaechi’s windscreen.
“After the failed attempt to kill the Transportation Minister, his escort team was physically assaulted by Wike’s CSO and Rivers governor, with the operatives of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) on the minister’s convoy dislodged and forcibly dispossessed of one of their AK-47 rifles.”
Rivers APC also stated that the dangerous trend, if not nipped in the bud, might jeopardise the peace pervading the Niger Delta.
It reiterated that Wike’s main desire was to truncate Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy, after the failed plot by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win the 2015 presidential election, stressing that the Rivers governor’s disdain for President Muhammadu Buhari, APC and Amaechi was legendary.
The opposition party said: “Wike recently exhibited hatred for Buhari’s administration during his misguided lecture at Chatham House, London, where he disparaged the Federal Government, demarketed and rubbished all the efforts of the APC-led Federal Government to right most of the wrongs of the past PDP government in a foreign land.
“Wike should not be allowed to turn Rivers State into a theatre of unwarranted war, only obtainable during the Sir Celestine Omehia’s era, when Port Harcourt was rated as the riskiest place in the world.”
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications Emma Okah described as wishful thinking, the call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Governor Wike’s Chief Security Officer (CSO). Promise Wosu, a Superintendent of Police (SP), and other security personnel.
Okah, said: “The call for the arrest and prosecution of Wike’s CSO lacks merit, it is mere wishful thinking and it should be disregarded.
“If APC chairman is calling for arrest and prosecution of Wike’s CSO, what do we do to the policemen that attacked the Rivers governor’s escort rider? Do we also call for their arrest and prosecution?”
Okah also stated that there should be no double standard in order to ensure justice.
