Since the very day Mr Ibrahim Idris was appointed as Inspector-General of Police for his partisan role during the 2015 General Elections whilst he served as Commissioner of Police in Kano State, he has metamorphosed into a nightmare to the nation’s democracy.
Not even the APC National Chairman, Mr John Odigie-Oyegun can compete with Ibrahim Idris in the plot to illegally decimate the PDP, unleash violence and negative propaganda on the opposition.
Idris involves himself in APC electioneering process in a manner that beats the imagination. He has turned the Nigerian Police into a village vigilance group with no laws or scruples governing her operations.
The only thing that motivates Idris is how to impress his oga at the top. His loyalty has never been to Nigeria. It is always about the APC. Idris was a commissioner of police in Kano when a resident electoral commissioner was brutally murdered with members of his family via arson with over 30 policemen guarding his home. Till date, we are yet to know who murdered that INEC official in a state where APC fantastically emerged victorious.
I have always known Idris’s capacity for mischief and senseless propaganda, but I never imagined that he would outdo himself in the manner he did with Mr Damian Okoro. To gather journalists and turn the headquarters of the Nigerian Police into a theatre of the absurd is a shameless action no well meaning Nigerian should tolerate. The event of Tuesday , 7th February, 2017 was a national tragedy of regrettable proportions.
That a nation’s police force would connive with a bank, withdraw money from its account and display same with its wraps before journalists is a warning that we are in deep trouble. Our adherence to the quota system has landed us deep in the proverbial deep blue sea.
Pray, what kind of low intelligence would lead the leadership of the Police High Command into believing that monies believed to “bribe” would remain intact two months after it was offered. These fraudulent police thespians in their hurry to address the press and divert attention for the oga at the top, never imagined that two months after the funds would not be under same wraps.
Is that the way Idris’s men keep their bribes that have notoriously rubbished the already battered image of the police? It is necessary to emphasise that the Rivers State Government never bribed any INEC Official. There was no reason to do so because APC has never been a political threat in Rivers State . The governor’s performance over the last 19months has made Rivers State an impregnable fortress. The people are solidly behind the governor. PDP is there choice.
At the press conference where the embattled Inspector General of Police and his side-kick, Damian Okoro embarrassed the security network of the country, they claimed that they would allow journalists interact with the three Electoral Officers they claimed met with Governor Wike. However, after that briefing, the IGP reneged.
Findings have revealed that the 23 INEC Officials arrested by the police denied any wrongdoing. They made no confessions. They were promptly released without detention. The Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak declared on Rhythm FM in Port Harcourt that no INEC Official was indicted by the police after investigation.
Similarly, no policeman, across the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State was indicted for electoral malpractice during the rerun legislative elections by the IGP Kangaroo Panel. Only the 6 policemen maliciously dismissed for protecting Governor Wike from the IGP Deadly assassination squad. The few media reports twisted to help the police were planted by the APC propaganda machine. A machine that has lost is efficacy because Nigerians know they lie habitually.
Where in the report did the police mention the infraction at the INEC Isiokpo Collation Center on December 11, 2016? Thousands of women blocked the Isiokpo INEC Collation Center on that day when Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi with hundreds of SARS Personnel and Soldiers stormed the venue, snatched result sheets, sacked journalists and INEC Officials , stayed in the facility for hours and re-wrote the results. They ignored results of the earlier rerun on March 19, 2016 and declared the APC candidate winner of Ikwerre State Constituency.
The IGP Fraudulent and Criminally concocted report made no mention of the violent invasion of Andoni Collation Center by soldiers and policemen. This unfortunate incident widely reported had policemen pointing guns at the head of the immediate past Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Engr Tele Ikuru because he insisted on public collation in the presence of journalists.
The IGP Kangaroo report made no mention of the fact that there were no voting in Khana, Gokana and Tai Local Government Areas. The report failed to indicate that all result sheets were snatched by policemen and soldiers and taken to the home of Mr Magnus Abe, APC Senatorial Candidate for Rivers South-East Senatorial District where allocation of votes took place. These facts were all in the public domain through the social and traditional media.
This ugly unprincipled report made no mention of the unscrupulous actions of the police and soldiers at Emohua where they tried to snatch collated results. On December 12; 2016, thousands of Emohua people took to the streets and stopped the security agencies from stealing their mandate. They succeeded and the results got to Port Harcourt.
he cooked futile report of the IGP made no mention of Mr Charles Anyanwu, APC Etche Local Government Area who was arrested by the police after his gang inflicted gun wounds on INEC officials and policemen.
For the IGP, there was nothing wrong with the killing of DSP Alkali by a murderous gang loyal to Amaechi’s Commissioner of Power. His report shied away from this ugly incident.
This APC-Police report made no mention of Atonyesia Peterside, the cousin of defeated Rivers State APC Governorship Candidate, who was arrested by the Police printing fake result sheets for INEC. Till date, police and INEC have refused to prosecute their accomplice.
While Idris and his hatchet men were busy cooking the report for APC, they forgot that the December 10, 2016 rerun was a conclusion of the March 19, 2016 rerun. During the March 19 , 2016 rerun elections, the collation of results for Ikwerre State Constituency was almost concluded before the defeated Rivers APC Governorship Candidate, Dakuku Peterside and others invaded the Collation Center.
It was during this collation that the Ikwerre State Constituency, Azubuike Wanjoku publicly assaulted the returning officer. Wanjoku was captured on tape threatening to kill the INEC Official if he failed to return the N12million bribe he offered him to manipulate the rerun legislative elections. Our Pro-APC IGP refused to prosecute Wanjoku. He refused to prosecute Dakuku Peterside who stole results at the Ikwerre Collation Center, escaped with it and was stopped at UTC Junction where he attempted to kill Engr Chukwuemeka Woke who served as the PDP Collation Agent for Ikwerre/Emohua Federal Constituency. Dakuku Adol Peterside had no business being at the Ikwerre LGA Collation Center. I have pointed out the key examples signalling the futility of the criminally and politically motivated report of the IGP Investigative Panel. It is a report written to humour the APC leadership and justify the billions expended in sponsoring the terror against Rivers State.
IGP Ibrahim Idris presides over a police force that has become a national embarrassment, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Audu Ogbe. The Minister on National Television berated the Police for being responsible for the scarcity of food that has rocked the nation.
For the South-East alone the corruption of IGP Ibrahim Idris’s men leads to the loss of N7billion monthly . Idris has no business being in service. He should be eased out, investigated and prosecuted.
The 28000 policemen that Idris deployed to Rivers State for the rerun were embarrassingly Pro-APC. They worked for APC chieftains as if their survival depended on it.
I read on Friday in the newspapers that the embattled IGP joined issues with Governor Wike and the PDP. Where on earth would a Police Chief become a spokesman for the ruling party?
Idris must be told in very clear terms that Rivers State is beyond his partisan mischief. What his 28000 policemen failed to do, cannot be achieved via an irresponsible report.
Idris should know that the defence of the fundamentals of democracy outweighs his desperation to sustain himself in an office he has horribly managed.
Rivers people will never succumb to his lies and recklessness. They will stand up to defend their voices. This horribly false report churned out by the APC Police was done at a time the Police and Governor Wike had joined issues issues in court in a suit challenging the validity of the IGP Kangaroo Panel. The unfortunate drama was staged in utter contempt of a court of competent jurisdiction. If the police chief can blatantly disregard the rule of law, we can now begin to understand why this quota system IGP is ready to become a willing tool in the hands of the APC leadership.
This man, a cheer leader for APC is a sad dent on our democracy.
He has abandoned his constitutional responsibilities and has adopted ill-advised political roles, deploying the police for the APC. Wherever he meets an obstacle as was the case in Rivers State, Idris uses the propaganda tools of the APC to attempt what has failed even the APC, distraction.
Written by Simeon Nwakaudu.
