By Jimitota Onoyume
PORT HARCOURT— PEOPLES Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State has called on the Inspector General of Police to disband a wing of the Police in the state called C4I, saying it had allegedly uncovered a plot by All Progressives Congress, APC, to connive with the security body to implicate some chieftains of the party in phoney criminal activities.
Chairman, Media and Publicity of the PDP Campaign Organisation in the state, Mr Emma Okah, who briefed newsmen, yesterday in Port Harcourt, alleged that the APC had concluded arrangement with the C4I to release arms illegally to some youths for nefarious acts, adding that they would later be arrested and forced to implicate the governorship candidate of the party, Mr Nyesom Wike, President Goodluck Jonathan and other chieftains of the party to their callous activities.
Urging the Inspector General of Police to thoroughly investigate the allegation and ensure those behind it were brought to book, the party alleged that among other things those to be allegedly equipped with arms illegally by the special unit of the Police would carry out indiscriminate kidnappings and cause chaos in the state before their arrest.
He said: “We have uncovered a heinous and shameful conspiracy by the said C4I and APC to arm some young men who would thereafter, be arrested while armed with the very weapons given to them by the C4I and APC. After their stage-managed arrest, false confessions would be obtained from them in consonance with the orchestrated plan to the effect that they were armed by the President and the governorship candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, Chief Wike, to commit sundry criminal acts including kidnap, armed robbery, and political assassinations.
“As a means of suppressing evidence and concealing the false confession, the young men would thereafter be killed by the C4I through administering poisons on them. The C4I and their APC co-conspirators would then falsely allege that the President in concert with Wike and the PDP are responsible for the murder of the young men.
“Prior to this time and just to mention one out of several cases, the C4I had attempted to abduct and possibly eliminate a member of the PDP in Rivers State, Mr Tonye Ayella. Mr. Ayella, who is the PDP’s candidate to represent Port Harcourt constituency 2 in Rivers State House of Assembly in the 2015 general elections, was saved from abduction and possible elimination by security men attached to Mr Evans Bipi, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This matter was reported to the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command, who has refused to investigate the issues.”
Meantime, the APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Mr Chris Finebone, dismissed the allegation by the PDP as laughable and ludicrous.
He said: “For the APC, this is yet another contrivance from the deep box of propaganda of the PDP in Rivers State. It simply flies in the face.
“While not speaking for any organ of state like the Police or any other security agency, the APC in Rivers State believes that it is unthinkable for any sane mind or group of sane individuals to imagine that the Nigeria Police or other security organisations would attempt what the PDP is charging. That can only be possible between the PDP and any unscrupulous federal agency.
“The Rivers State chapter of the APC would like to urge the PDP to approach the various federal government controlled security agencies with the facts of its findings for proper investigation to ascertain the veracity of their claims.”
PDP petition IGP over plan by APC to connive with police against its chieftains
