The Rivers State Police Command has said that the Thursday invasion of the home of a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joi Nunieh, by armed security operatives was done with the approval of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and Commissioner of Police in the state, Joseph Mukan.
The Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, who disclosed this in a statement in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the operatives were sent from Abuja to effect the arrest of the embattled ex-NDDC boss.
He added that, on arrival, the team registered their presence at the state police headquarters, where they got a go-ahead from the police commissioner.
Omoni stressed that the notion that the policemen were at Nunieh’s residence without the directive of either the CP or the IGP should be disregarded.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who had, on Thursday, rescued Nunieh from the siege, had said that he was told that the state CP was not aware of the invasion.
He said, “I drove to the place and saw over 50 policemen to take a woman as if she is a common criminal… I spoke to CP, CP said he was not aware. Tell me how something will happen in the state and the CP will not be aware. They said it was the IGP’s Monitoring Team, but I have spoken to them and from what I heard, even the IG is not even aware…
“For me, if there is any crime against Dr Joy Nunieh, I will not back her. Some say she is not in my party, so I should not intervene, but she’s a Rivers daughter.”
But the Rivers PPRO said it was wrong for anyone to assume that the police officers that attempted to arrest Nunieh were fake.
He said, “We state that the Officers who were at the residence of the former Ag. MD Joi Nunieh were from the IGP Monitoring Team in Abuja and were here on Official assignment.
“That before they proceeded to her residence, they observed due protocols and requisite standard operating procedures, including going through the processes of arriving themselves at the Headquarters with their Investigation Activities duly signed and approved by the Commissioner of Police, CP Joseph G Mukan.
“That they went to her residence with Mobile Policemen, suggesting of course that they were there on official duty and not illegal duty as speculated.
“That, the reference indicating that the Officers were there without the directive of the CP nor the IGP is preposterous and most unfortunate, hence should be discountenanced and disregarded.”
