Wike rejects IGP’s stand on beheaded policemen

The controversy over the beheading of two policemen during last month’s Rivers State rerun legislative election deepened yesterday, with Governor Nyesom Wike faulting the position of Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris and the army.

Wike challenged the Police to state how and where Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mohammed Alkali and his driver Sergeant Peter Uchi were murdered during the December 10, 2016 poll.

He accused the police of trying to cover up information about the incident. According to him, the police have refused to make public the communication that an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former Commissioner for Power Mr Augustine Kachi Nwokocha allegedly had with the suspected killers before the DSP was murdered.

Wike spoke yesterday during a meeting with the management of Independent Newspapers Limited at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

He said: “The Police should let the world know where the DSP was killed.

“What is the polling unit where he was killed? The former commissioner of Power who was mentioned by the killers, has he been questioned?

“Where is the call log of that former commissioner as communicated with the killers?

“Have they checked the discussions between the Commissioner and the arrested killers?”

He added: “They know the truth, but they want to cover a lot of things. The army announced that they recovered the uniforms from the forest, was there a polling unit in the forest?”

He also alleged that the state government was being blackmailed..

“The survival of democracy, to a large extent depends on a vibrant media. Certain things happening in the country must be made public by the media,” he said.

The heads of the policemen were cut off from their bodies and thrown into the river, IG Idris told Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who visited the Police Headquarters last month.

The IG had said: “We lost two of our officers on the day of the election. They were kidnapped, their heads were severed from their bodies and their bodies were buried in shallow graves. The vehicle in which they were kidnapped has been recovered.

“We have recovered their bodies but unfortunately, the information we got from suspects arrested revealed that after severing their heads from their body, their heads were thrown into the River.

”So far, we have arrested four suspects and we have recovered some weapons. Investigation is however ongoing because we are expanding the scope of investigation.

“I want to assure this country that we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that those found indicted in this investigation, no matter their status, are going to be held responsible for it.

“These people were killed not because of any personal issue but because they answered the call of duty to serve in the election that took place in Rivers and it is very sad that their lives have to end like this

”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.”

He declared that the electoral violence witnessed in Rivers state would be the last to be witnessed in any part of the country.

A panel was set up made up of specialists and professionals to probe the killings.

Five suspects were arrested. They are: Noble Nwaerema, Dike Deinpiribo, Valentine Alalibo, Onwunari J. Warmate, and Iloke Stephen.

Police spokesman Don Awunah, said: “The high powered investigation team set up by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris and saddled with the responsibility of investigating the circumstances sur