Rivers: Six arrested over policemen killings

The Rivers State Police Command has said six persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of three policemen in Rumuokoro, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong, disclosed this when the Rivers State executive of the Nigerian Union of Journalists led by its chairman, Job Stanley, paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Port Harcourt.

Recall that gunmen had three weeks ago intercepted a Hilux vehicle on the Rumuokoro flyover, conveying the managing director of an oil and gas company based in Port Harcourt and some staff members, shot and killed three policemen guarding them.

They afterwards, isolated the MD and whisked him to an unknown destination, though he had since been released.

CP Effiong said since the sad incident, policemen had spread their dragnet to ensure the suspects were apprehended.

He also disclosed that suspects had been arrested in connection with the abduction of two women, including a pharmacist at Apara link Road, along Mgboaba, near Port Harcourt.

He said, “Within this period there is good news. The people who killed three policemen and abducted a man in Rumuokoro, I think it was an eight man gang, six of them have been arrested.

“We will have a press conference to show you what we have then we will now take you to see them with your eyes. We are not interested in media trial.

“But we are doing our best and we hope and believe that our best will be good enough for us.”

Okon warned politicians to leave the police out of politics, even as he debunked claims by the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers State, Senator Lee Maeba, that he did not respond to a distress call when his residence in GRA, Phase 3, Port Harcourt was attacked by suspected thugs last Thursday.

He said, “I think I was in an operation in Bodo, Gokana Local Government and I didn’t see his call because my phone was in the car.

“But when I received a call later on that report, I quickly mobilised my men and he (Maeba) sent me a message thanking me for my prompt response.

“I don’t know what has informed that, but I feel strongly that people should not use the police as a pond in a chess game.

“If anybody has any problem with anybody he should face the person and leave the police out of it. We should separate the police from politics.”

Earlier, the state NUJ chairman, appealed to the CP to provide security for journalists in the state during the forth-coming elections, saying they are providing essential services, like the police.

“You (Okon) have been posted to the state at a very critical time because of the elections that are coming.

“In the past journalist have been harassed while covering elections and reporting what is happening. We appeal to you to educate your men not to see journalists as enemies, but partners in progress,” he said.

Stanley said the union was working hard to tackle the issue of quacks in journalism as observed by the CP, saying a committee was in place to fish out those giving bad name to the profession

(Punch)