enagoa — Operators of commercial tricycle in Bayelsa State, popularly
known as Keke Napep, yesterday staged a protest against alleged
excessive use of force and extortion by policemen along the streets and
highways. They also said a pregnant woman was assaulted by a police
inspector along the Azikoro way in the state.
The police inspector, whose identity is still unknown, was reported
to have use the butt of his official rifle to hit the pregnant woman
while trying to hit a Keke Napep driver who had refused to part with a
N50 bribe.
While some senior officials of the Azikoro Divisional Police Headquarters described the action of the police inspector as
"careless" and denied the alleged use of the butt of the rifle, the
irate protesters claimed the action of the policeman led to excessive
bleeding of the pregnant women from the mouth.
The pregnant woman, according to the protesters, had been rushed to a
private hospital known as Glory Land Hospital. A police source claimed a
scan had been conducted which pronounced her and the pregnancy okay.
It was gathered that the attempt by the protesters to barricade the
premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Nigerian
Television Authority (NTA) along the Azikoro Road was thwarted by armed
policemen who shot teargas into the crowd.
One of the protesting Keke Napep drivers, Kingsley Okubo, told The
Guardian that the activities of policemen at check-points during the day
and at night are unbecoming.
He said: "This is a small state but the amount paid as bribe to
policemen is exorbitant and fearful. Can you imagine we pay as much as
N600 daily. It is wrong and criminal.
"Most of our passengers are being embarrassed by these policemen at
night. They extort us and some of the passengers. They call everyone
criminal even while they know that some of them are just going to clubs
or bars for relaxation. It is wrong and not speaking well about night
life in the state."
Contacted on the development, the spokesman of the Bayelsa State
Police Command, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, said though he had been briefed, "the
command will investigate the incident."
Source
The
All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday said it would sue
spokesperson of the States security Service (SSS), Marilyn Ogar, for
attempting to blame the party for the series of bomb blasts in the
country.
APC stated that by stating on national television that whenever the
opposition party wins the election, there would be no bomb blasts, but
whenever another party wins the election, there would be blasts, Ms.
Ogar was implying that the party was responsible for terrorism in
Nigeria.A press release issued by APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Saturday demanded Ogar’s resignation.
“For the DSS Spokesperson to echo the same capricious statement that has been made in the past by the spokesman of the PDP shows that the agency has dropped its toga of non-partisanship and has descended into the political fray.
“If the DSS has any professional ethics, if DSS is not an arm of the PDP, then the agency must publicly dissociate itself from the irresponsible and unfounded allegation by Ogar and disengage her from the service.
“'Doing that will be the first step in restoring the credibility, or whatever is left of it, of the DSS. In the alternative, we challenge the DSS to present to Nigerians any evidence it may have to link our party to the spate of bomb blasts in the country. After all, it is trite that he who alleges must prove."
The party also commented on Ogar’s allegation that “a certain political party” believed to be APC offered the SSS N14 million as a bribe, saying institutions of state like the SSS must know that their responsibility is to the nation, and not to any political party that may be having a transient hold on power that their loyalty is to the nation, not to any individual.
“This way, the institutions will keep their integrity intact and also serve the nation properly. Irrespective of the government in power, institutions of state must stay above the fray, in line with best practices.
“This is a lesson that should not be hard for the fellows over there at the DSS to understand, going by the antecedents of their agency. However, where they choose to play politics with their professionalism and integrity, they will soon realise there are working in an agency that is not worth its salt, one that has lost the respect of the citizenry."
It saddled the National Assembly with the task of inviting Ogar's to explain if the alleged N14 million bribe was offered and who offered it.
Source