Twenty-one police officers attached to the escort unit of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, have been arrested and moved to the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
Their arrest and transfer to Abuja was said to be on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Idris.
The arrested officers were alleged to have shot sporadically into the air during the December 11 legislative rerun elections in the state.
The shooting allegedly took place in a collation centre in the Rivers East senatorial district.
It was also gathered that the escort commander had earlier been issued a query over the alleged shooting, and he was said to have responded to it.
In his response, the escort commander was said to have denied the allegation of sporadic shootings levelled against his unit. The officer also cited several orders and protocols, which forbid governor’s escort team from releasing gunshots, except in extreme case, which was not the case in the matter under reference.
Rivers State Government had accused men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), led by Akin Fakorode, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), of engaging the services of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
When contacted to react to the alleged transfer of the police officers, the Police Command, through its spokesman, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, denied any knowledge of the transfer.
“I am not aware. To the best of my knowledge, I am not aware of such thing yet,” he said on phone.
Source: Sun
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Politics