Rivers
Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, of being after his life, according to Daily Times.
Speaking
to journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday the
governor said moments before he travelled to Kaduna on Friday, the IGP directed
his crack team to invade his home in Asokoro, Abuja supposedly acting on
information from a whistle-blower.
“I want
to reiterate, the Inspector-General of Police is after my life,” he said.
Wike said
the raid was orchestrated at planting firearms, cash and other incriminating
exhibits in his Abuja home.
Wike
said, “All attempts are being made so that they will go and plant either AK-47
or $1m in the governor’s house. They can even plant costly wrist watches as a
propaganda tool.
“I said I
have to let Nigerians know that this is not the way to go about in a democracy.
Rather, this is an attempt to truncate democracy. That someone differs on
issues does not mean you have to go after the person’s life.”
According
to the governor, the police had also perfected plans to obtain a search warrant
from the court on Tuesday, as Monday is a public holiday, under the guise that
they unaware that the house in question belonged to a sitting governor.
Wike
dared the police to come to his home in Rivers to conduct their search, instead
of his Abuja residence, which he hardly visits.
“Nigerians
should be aware that should they raid my house in Abuja and claim they found
anything, it is incorrect. I have not been going to Abuja, but I will be in
Abuja to wait for them to see how they plan to plant guns in my house,” Wike
said.
According
to the newspaper, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, has denied
the governor’s allegation.
Speaking
in a telephone interview in Abuja, Moshood said the police never plants
incriminating materials in the house of anybody.
The Force
PRO also said he was not aware of any plan by the police to raid the Abuja home
of Governor Wike.
He added
that the Police would always act within its constitutional mandate of
protecting lives and properties including the prevention of crime.
By Dolapo
Adelana
