There is palpable tension in Eliozu and Rumuosunwor Eneka Communities in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State occasioned by Police harassment and intimidation of the citizens which has led the people petitioning the Inspector- General of Police.
According to the Palace Secretary of Eliozu community, Comrade Clinton Adams, while briefing the press on the development over the weekend in Port Harcourt, “the neighboring communities have boundary problem and they amicably raised a joint peace committee to delineate the boundary. However, some powerful personalities for their parochial interest would not let the communities have their peace and have continuously thwarted the efforts of the community leaders”.
At a point, Comrade Adams continued, these influential persons went and brought some hoodlums into the crisis.
He said these criminals at some point, had to permanently camp in the troubled area.
Comrade Adams further disclosed that it was the effort of the Nigeria Police, Rivers State Command, through the IGP Monitoring Unit, Rivers Branch that the matter was temporary resolved.
According to him, “the site was raided and many of the criminals were arrested and paraded with supplicated arms and ammunition that were recovered from them.
The Palace Secretary declared that the joy of the people and residents of the area knew no bounds by the action of the Police.
Comrade Adams stated that to the surprise of the embattled citizens, some of the arrested hoodlums were released by the Police to continue terrorizing the people after allegedly collecting huge sums of money from them.
“To make matters worse, Adam said, the criminals not only boasted of their powerful sponsors but made it clear to the people that the same police the community used to dislodge them will be used against the people. And true to their boast, the police have been coming for mass arrest and harassment of identified informants since then.
He further disclosed that with the assistance of the IGP Intelligence Response Team (Abuja) later, the criminals were eventually ambushed, dislodged and re- arrested and that they had made confessional statements, admitting that some of the arms are still in their hideout.
The community leaders lamented the unprofessional conduct of the Police by not only disclosing the source of its information but ensured that innocent informants were victimized.
The development has led to the communities living in perpetual fear of losing their lives and property, and that some of them have deserted their homes as the hoodlums have issued a 14 day notice to them for a reprisal attack.
“This is the reason we have petitioned the IGP, through our lawyers, copied the Public Complaint Commission and other authorities to not only come to our rescue but to ensure that one DSP Bello in-charge of the IGP Monitoring Team, Rivers State is reprimanded, as we don’t want to be dragged into unnecessary community crisis.
Those arrested included Ikechukwu Cyril Obinna, Smart Nyegonum, Gershion Nyegonom, Frank Worlu and Hillary Nwokoro.
