You aid abduction, robbery to instil fear, Wike tells police

Governor Nyesom Wike has accused the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Force Police of aiding kidnapping and robbery in a bid to foist a climate of fear.

He said the alleged killing of an officer by the Inspector General of Police’s anti-kidnapping squad during a foiled abduction operation necessitates his claim that the force was foisting insecurity.

The governor told reporters yesterday after a meeting with the Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, at the Government House in Port Harcourt that on Monday, some SARS personnel went to the residence of one Azumana Ifeanyi and kidnapped him from his Government Reservation Area (GRA) residence in Port Harcourt.

According to him, the victim was driven to a commercial bank to withdraw a N500,000 ransom.

Wike alleged that the officer killed in the gun duel between the abductors and the police was in the team that stormed the Port Harcourt City Local Council to hijack electoral materials during the collation of results for the December 2016 legislative election.

His words: “Most of the kidnapping and armed robbery taking place in this state are done by men of SARS. They use exhibit vehicles to operate. As the Chief Security Officer of the state, you complain, but they choose to play politics with crime. They fight crime in some state, but they refuse to fight crime in Rivers State. We are done with the elections, but they are using SARS to create insecurity in the state.”

He continued: As I speak with you, they will deny. But the SARS operative who was killed was amongst those who raided the Rivers East Senatorial District Collation Centre.”

The governor claimed that most of the abductions and armed robberies, particularly on the highways in the state, were being perpetrated in connivance with the police.

He said that despite the huge resources expended on security by his administration, kidnapping has become rampant on major highways due to collusion.

According to him, the killing of the police officer exposed the force’s culpability in the state.

“I have never seen a country where they politicise crime. It is very obvious that they want to give the impression that Rivers State is unsafe. They want to instil fear preparatory to declaring during the elections that there are so much killings,” he added.

An advocate of state police, Wike described as sickening the attempt to politicise security in the country.

However, repeated calls to the Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed and the command’s spokesperson, Nnamdi Omoni, for comments were unanswered as at press time.