NPF: Why we arrested policemen attached to Wike; it is a tragic day for professionalism in Nigeria Police, says Rivers Gov

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested six suspected policemen for professional misconduct during the parliamentary re-run elections in Rivers State on December 10.
The suspects are: Ex-Insp. Eyong Victor, Ex-Sgt. Peter Ekpo, Ex-Sgt. Ogun I. Goodluck, Ex-Sgt. Orji Nwoke, Sgt. Okpe Ezekiel and Ex-Sgt. Tanko Akor.
All the policemen were attached to Governor Nyesom Wike.
The Force spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Don Awunah, disclosed this while presenting the suspects to newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
“In the course of discreet investigations into the above misconduct, the following personnel were found to have in total disrespect to orders and directives, compromised, engaged in unprofessional acts,” he said.
He said that the suspects, who were subjected to internal disciplinary measures, were found guilty and dismissed from the force.
Awunah added that the suspects would be prosecuted under the Electoral Act to serve as a deterrent to other police personnel.
He explained that the suspects took laws into their hands and opened fire, causing panic in the crowd.
“They joined in storming the Port Harcourt City Council secretariat and prevented the movement of election results in Emouha polling unit to the appropriate collation centre,” he said.
The force spokesman said that the suspects in convoy of Wike, on the Election Day, misused firearms contrary to Force Order 237.
He said the suspects violated the warnings and instructions from the police high command that officers on duty should desist from escorting their principals (public officers and politicians) on election days.
Awunah said that the Inspector-General of Police had instituted comprehensive measures to ensure compliance with strict rules of professional behaviours for officers and men.
In a related development, Awunah has denied that police personnel raided a residence belonging to the wife of former president Goodluck Jonathan, Patience.
He said that the police got a search warrant duly endorsed by a competent court of law to assist Federal Government’s assets recovery agents.
“The police went there with an approved search warrant,” he said.
He explained that when the officers, who were just supporting the agents demanded to speak with the owner of the house, someone who claimed to be a former First Lady said the house belonged to her.
Awunah said that the two houses were not habited as cobwebs were all over the place.
He said that the two security safes in the four duplexes were inspected in the presence of a lawyer who represented the owner.
The spokesman said that other items found in the duplexes were two new bullet proof vehicles, adding that no items were taken from the houses.
He said the search was witnessed by two security officers guarding the premises in the persons of Akomoye Jeremiah and Energy Emmanuel.
But in a swift reaction, Wike described the arrest of the policemen as political and a tragic day for professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force.
A statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr Austin Tam-George, entitled ‘Wrongful Dismissal of Governor Wike’s Six Police Details: Tragic Day For Professionalism in the Nigerian Police’, reads: “The Rivers State Government notes with infinite sadness the decision of the Nigeria Police to dismiss six police officers attached to Governor Nyesom Wike.
“The police officers were  subjected to a secret and unfair trial, on totally fictitious charges of professional misconduct, during the rerun elections in Rivers State on the 10th of December, 2016.
“This is a tragic day for professionalism and the respect for human rights in the Nigeria police force. The dismissed officers committed no crime, other than foil a carefully orchestrated electoral heist by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC),  in collusion with the All Progressives Congress  (APC)  and the Nigeria Police Force.
“The claim by the Police that the affected officers misused their firearms while in the convoy of Governor Wike on the 10th of December 2016,  is a  wrong and cruel fabrication.
“Governor Wike did not depart from his official premises on the day of the election, and therefore had no use for an armed convoy.
“Two days after the elections, on the 12th of December 2016,  thousands of Rivers people,  led by Governor Wike,  resisted an invasion by the police on the premises of the Port Harcourt  City Local Government Council premises, in a brazen attempt to rig the elections in favour of the APC.
“The Port Harcourt City Council was the Election Collation Centre for the Rivers East Senatorial District.
“Throughout the period of the stand off between the invading police officers and the thousands of citizens who resisted them, Governor Wike and the officers around him conducted themselves with utmost restraint.
“The dismissed officers are, therefore, the latest victims of the medieval dictatorship of the APC government. A government that seems to lurch blindly in the miasma of its own incompetence and intolerance.
“We urge Nigerians  to demand the immediate reinstatement of these officers,  and for the Inspector General of Police to allow an independent inquiry.
“The APC government has never hidden its desperation to overrun Rivers State, colonize’ its people and loot the treasury of the state.
“But Rivers people will continue to resist all attempts to enslave them”.