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How Wike survived 5 as
There were at least five assasination attempts on the life of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in the last eleven months, Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr Austin Tam-George said yesterday. The commissioner who claimed that in one of the instances, two police officers were offered N150 million to carry out the dastardly act, described the recent denials by the Police that the governor’s life was at risk, as callous and insensitive. Tam-George’s statement came a day after the governor claimed that the new Commissioner of Police was posted to the state by the IGP with specific instruction to eliminate him. Tam-George claimed that the opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) declared a full scale war on the state government and people of Rivers State immediately they lost the governorship litigation at the Supreme Court in 2016. “The first attempt to kill the governor was made immediately after the Supreme Court verdict,” he said. Dr Tam-George recalled that the governor’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) was removed without any explanation, adding that the six police officers dismissed by the police in January played a key role in foiling the series of attempts to kill the governor. The commissioner further alleged that after several attempts to assassinate Governor Wike failed, an offer of N150 million was made to two of the six dismissed police officers, to kill the governor, but they declined. “We call on the Interpol and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to lead an independent inquiry into why those gallant and patriotic officers were dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force on spurious charges of misconduct,” the commissioner said. He also alleged that as part of its preparations to seize Rivers State in the 2019 elections, the APC-led Federal Government was already considering a range of “escalatory measures” against Wike and some key leaders in the state. But the state Police Command’s spokesman, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, has dismissed the allegations as false. Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in a phone interview, said the Command was neither aware of assassination attempts on the governor, nor has he (Wike) reported any assassination attempt on him in any police station. The PPRO said he was about going into a meeting with the Police Commissioner over the matter, at press time. Twenty-four hours earlier, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, had refuted claim that the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, ordered the state Police to kill Wike. In a statement on Sunday, the Force spokesman said: “There was no time, either recently or in the past, that the Inspector-General of Police gave an order or assignment to the Commissioner of Police of Rivers State or any police officer anywhere in the country to kill His Excellency, Barrister Nyesom Wike, the Executive Governor of Rivers State. “His Excellency should put into cognisance national security and that of the people of Rivers State as against any personal, political or group interest, and resist the use of personal grudges, grouse and sentiment to attack the hard earned personality of the Inspector-General of Police to cast aspersion on the statutory roles of the Force in ensuring utmost protection of life and property of all Nigerians.” Rather than plot the assassination, the statement said Governor Wike and his office were being protected by 221 police personnel. The detachment, according to the Police, included an Aide-de-Camp, Chief Security Officer, Unit Commanders from the Special Protection and Counter-terrorism units, respectively, an escort commander, camp commander, administrative officer and 54 Inspectors of Police. The team also included 136 sergeants and 24 corporals. “Obviously, the total number of 221 police personnel attached to the Governor of Rivers State is more than the strength of some Police Area Commands formation in some States of Nigeria. “This is done to ensure optimum safety and protection of the Executive Governor of River state; he said
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