BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
The Police High Command made a face-saving turn, Tuesday night, as they visited South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to apologise to him over the embarrassing invasion of his Asokoro, Abuja residence by armed policemen.
On Tuesday, a six-man police squad from the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force from Guzape, Abuja, invaded the residence of the Ijaw leader, Tuesday afternoon, claiming that they were searching for arms allegedly stockpiled by the 91-year-old.
Their action provoked a nationwide umbrage with groups and eminent Nigerians lambasting the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, calling for his removal.
However, it appears the public opprobrium got under the IGP’s skin as the Police Management team visited the elder statesman at home at about 10.30 p.m. begging him profusely.
The police emissary was led by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, Operations, accompanied by his wife.
Not only that, the Force Headquarters also announced that it had arrested, and would soon parade the informant who fed the police with the false intelligence that induced the raid on the former Federal Commissioner of Information’s residence.
In addition, the four cops that actively participated in the invasion have also been clamped into detention in a police facility in the nation’s capital. A police source hinted that they might be charged with the informant.
Force Headquarters also announced that it was investigating what prompted the IGP Special Unit to act the way it did. The Force also condemned media reports pinning the misbehaviour on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
Jimoh Moshood, an acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, and Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, denied the IGP’s complicity in the matter.
“Whenever a policeman does his work, you people (media men) don’t attach the IGP to it,”Moshood said. “This is wrong. So, a policeman will not do any work again except IGP orders? If policeman carries out his duty, it should not be that the IGP ordered it. IGP has not ordered anybody to go and ransack the house of Chief Edwin Clark but we are making a formal statement to that effect and it would be circulated in the next few minutes or so.
“Before then, we want to find out what really happened. But like I have said, their action was not from the IGP, they carried out their core duty. They went there because there was an informant that gave them information. They went there based on the information. And if they went there based on information at their disposal, do we now say the IGP ordered them to do what they did? But we will make an appropriate response to it.”