The Police Special Joint Investigation Panel on electoral and other offences perpetrated during the December 10, 2016 rerun election in Rivers State, submitted its much anticipated report this week. ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, explores the back and forth between the Police and State governor, Nyesom Wike
Few days ago, the Nigerian Police Special Joint Investigation Panel on electoral and other offences perpetrated during the December 10, 2016 rerun election in Rivers State submitted it’s report to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
According to the chairman of the Panel, Damian Okoro, a deputy commissioner of Police (DCP), a total of N111m was recovered from 23 officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who participated in the rerun election.
Okoro alleged that three senior electoral officers collected N20m each out of the N360m allegedly given to them by Rivers State Governor, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, while the remaining officers allegedly received N15m each.
He further alleged that there were some cases of misconduct on the part of some electoral officers, who were compromised in the line of duty, saying, “By this investigation, this panel has diligently unravelled what went wrong with the re-run election in Rivers, the details of which are contained in the report.
“We discovered that failure of leadership and followership rather than law enforcement was responsible for the political upheaval in the state.”
Okoro, who said lawless elements targeted political opponents of their sponsors, and law enforcement agents, especially the police, attributed some of the violent acts to inflammatory statements by some narrow-minded politicians.
He said, “Apart from their utterances, politicians in their desperation for power, also armed thugs who unleashed terror on their opponents.”
The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, in his response said the report and recommendations would be forwarded to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for his advice, noting that appropriate action would be taken against the indicted persons to serve as deterrent.
“We are going to take appropriate action in conjunction with other security agencies to put an end to this problem”, he said.
The Police chief, who urged Nigerians to have confidence in the security agencies and believe the panel report, alleged that Wike refused to cooperate with the panel even when the team visited him in Port Harcourt.
Indeed, the Rivers State governor had from the onset disagreed with the panel alleging that it was skewed against his administration and his party, PDP.
For him, the panel had already taken sides with the opposition in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC).
To prove his distrust for the police panel, the governor had setup his own commission of inquiry into what transpired at the polls, after he had called for the an independent judicial inquiry to be commissioned over the events, during and after the polls.
While many followers of the police investigative panel anticipated drama upon the release of its report, the display of the recovered monies jolted the polity.
Expectedly, Wike who reacted almost immediately after the report of the Police report was released, denied giving bribe to any official of INEC during the rerun election.
Wike, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by his special assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, described the allegations as patently false, politically motivated and cooked by the Nigerian Police to justify the violence they visited on the people of the state during the rerun.
The statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to a press conference addressed by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Investigative Panel on Rivers Rerun wherein the panel claimed that the Rivers State Government spent N360 million to ensure that the rerun legislative elections of December 10, 2016 were rigged in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“The Press Conference addressed by the IGP Investigative Panel headed by Mr Damian Okoro and the IGP Ibrahim Idris is yet another fictional account by a Police Force that has lost its moral base as it is intent on reinventing itself through falsehood.
“The Press Conference by the Police High Command is a hasty desperate attempt to circumvent the judicial process as Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has already challenged the legality of the IGP Investigative Panel at the Federal High Court.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike did not spend N360million to rig the Rerun legislative elections of December 10, 2016. The people of Rivers State overwhelmingly voted the PDP across the state because of the outstanding performance of Governor Wike since May 29, 2015.
“The drama at the Press Conference convened by the IGP Investigative Panel and the IGP reveals the script being acted by the Police High Command, which is now obviously an arm of the Ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Damian Okoro claimed that three INEC Officials who allegedly met with Governor Wike would be interviewed by journalists at the event . The IGP hatchet man after his false press statement refused to allow the promised interview to take place because he knew that the truth would be revealed.
“The Nigerian Police played an inglorious role during the December 10, 2016, helping the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig elections in the few constituencies where they were declared winner. Video evidence in the public domain proved that the police killed, maimed, snatched result sheets and ballot boxes as they assisted the APC all through the ill-fated rerun elections.”
Similarly, the Rivers State government accused the Nigeria Police of blackmailing Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, describing as melodramatic the images of heaps of cash, circulated in the media by the so-called police panel.
A statement issued in Port Harcourt by the state commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Austin Tam-George, reads in part, “We consider the allegations of the Police as shameful, defamatory and reckless in the extreme.
“A month ago, we alerted the world to the dark, Orwellian plot by the Nigeria Police to implicate governor Wike in a phoney bribe scandal. Now, the Police appears to be acting with shocking predictability, by making wild and completely groundless allegations against Wike.”
The state government however raised some posers “The Rivers State Government challenges the Nigeria Police to show proof that Governor Wike financially induced any official of INEC.
“Does the Police have Bank records of the purported transactions between Governor Wike and the Electoral Officers? We challenge the Nigeria Police to move quickly to prosecute and imprison the so-called Electoral Officers on the basis of this dubious investigation.
“We strongly believe that the police panel is part of a bitter, politically-driven smear campaign launched by the Federal Government against Governor Nyesom Wike and the people of Rivers State.
“We also believe that the Police is desperately seeking to divert attention from the disgraceful and criminal roles played by its officials, in the snatching and stuffing of ballot boxes during the December polls. Rivers State will not succumb to the juvenile antics of the All Progressives Congress and its security surrogates.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State joined in bashing the report. The party urged the Police Panel to come up with more evidences to prove the claim that the police recovered over N100m from 23 electoral officers in the state.
The party advised the panel to show picture evidences that would show a chieftain of the party giving the bribe to the 23 staff members of the INEC during the rerun election.
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, publicity secretary of PDP in the state, Hon. Samuel Nwanosike, described the money evidence as a primary school drama.
Nwanosike said the money was not enough evidence to be presented to the world in such case, stressing that the panel ought to come up with pictures of where and when the money was given to the INEC officials.
He asked the panel to name the individual in the River State government involved in the bribing of the said officials of the electoral umpire and make public the names of the recipients.
Nwanosike said, “We want to know the individual in the Rivers State Government that gave the bribe to the electoral officers. We want the evidence of where the money was given. We also need the pictures of who are involved as a proof and the bank were the money was paid.
“Okoro should tell Nigerians categorically how much he recovered from each of the persons involved. If actually they recovered anything, the money must be marked. It is a shame that Okoro and his panel could not do a thorough job, at least to please their paymasters.”
The PDP spokesman stated that the report was calculated to be used as evidence against the PDP lawmakers at the electoral tribunal sitting in Abuja, stressing that no member of the PDP bribed any INEC official.
He averred that the police report of the investigation on the rerun election would not be relevant to any sector on the country, adding that its findings are predetermined and biased in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, say it has been vindicated by the report of the Joint Police Panel that investigated the violence that occurred during the rerun election.
APC, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by its publicity secretary, Chris Finebone, said it welcomed the report of the panel, which alleged uncovered the bribing of officials of the INEC by the state government to the tune of N360 million.
The statement reads in part, “The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), welcomes the Inspector-General of Police panel investigation report which uncovered the bribing of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials by the governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike to the tune of N360 million of which the sum of N110 million has been physically recovered from the INEC officials by the Police.
“We feel a sense of vindication over repeated alarm we sounded before, during after the general and rerun elections of 2015 and 2016 that Governor Nyesom Wike bribes electoral officials before and during every election in Rivers State.
“Indeed, the IGP Panel report goes further to confirm that the audio bribery clips published by Saharareporters in which the voice of Governor Wike was directing the deployment of bribe money to INEC officials is real and authentic despite the barefaced denials by the governor.
“The APC believes that the spins and reverse spins the PDP is trying to put to a clear case of criminal act they committed with overwhelming evidence is the usual antics of roadside pickpockets when they are caught in the act. Even more laughable is the attempt to disown the exhibit claiming that it belongs to the APC.
“Where on earth could the APC in Rivers State have found that kind of money if not the governor who withdrew N2 billion belonging to River’s taxpayers just before the rerun election from which N260 million was paid out to electoral officials as bribe money?
“It is obvious that the old-fashioned antics of the governor and the PDP are simply not flying; a thousand press conferences cannot help because lies are known to have expiry date. Governor Wike and the PDP must show uncommon bravery by accepting the fate which awaits anyone who dares in the wrong direction of the law.
“The APC would like Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP to tell the world whether they did not bribe INEC officials as alleged and discovered by the IGP Panel. They should also tell the people whether INEC officials who are alleged to have collected the bribe money did not actually confess to the crime. Does the proof of bribery provided by the police as evidence that Governor Wike gave bribe to electoral officials not authenticate the act to the extent that those who made the refunds are alive?
“Whereas the APC is wary of wasting ample time in meaningless exchanges with a morally deficient PDP on the matter, we call on the Inspector-General of Police to effect immediate action on the report by prosecuting those found culpable. We know that Governor Wike’s immunity protects him from prosecution for now but it does not protect him from investigation as have been done.
“Let others that have been indicted be prosecuted according to law without any delay. When Governor Wike’s immunity expires in 2019, he must be made to face the full consequences of his action in line with the laws of the land.”
The electoral umpire, INEC has already declared that it is ready to deal with the electoral officers indicted in the bribery allegation.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, had said while commission had not been briefed on the report, it will support all processes to prosecute the people allegedly involved the alleged bribery.
Osaze-Uzzi said “we await the police report; just like everybody saw it on the media that was how we also saw it.
“As at today, they have not communicated to say this is the report. “We know the panel has submit report to the IG, maybe, he will study it and avail us with the report if need be.”
The director said that the commission would allow the law to take its course on any of its staff members indicted in the alleged bribe.
“If any of our staff has been found culpable, we will deal with him appropriately and then allow the law to take its course. “If they are charged to court, then normal administrative process will follow. If they are convicted, necessary action will be taken. If they are not convicted, we will examine if they have committed any administrative breach.
“If they have committed any administrative breach we will deal with that administratively, while the police will deal with the criminal aspect of it,” he added.
“We are determined to weed out any bad egg from the system,” he said.
Osaze-Uzzi said that the commission had been cooperating with the special investigative panel and the police on the matter.
At it stands, the focus will be on the outcome of Rivers State judicial commission whose report will for all indication be a reverse of what this police panel has given.