It has been revealed that the Deputy
Commissioner of Police, in-charge of Federal Special anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS,
Bayelsa state, Kolawole Okunola, who was abducted by armed thugs during the
just concluded Presidential and National Assembly election, was seriously
manhandled and was at the point of being beheaded when succour came.
Eyewitness account said the unassuming officer
who had served gallantly in almost all the hot spots in the country was invited
to the scene after armed hoodlums in their numbers attacked INEC officials who
earlier arrived the community with electoral materials in Bassambiri community
in Nembe Local government area.
They reportedly hijacked and carted away the
electoral materials meant for seven wards in the area and took them to a
popular hotel where they manipulated the results.
It was also learned that after they brought
back the alleged fake results to INEC office another opposing group who were
alerted of the development started protesting. While they were
protesting, the armed thugs that earlier hijacked INEC materials arrived at the
jetty accompanied by a great number of armed youths and insisted that INEC officials
must authenticate the manipulated results before leaving the community.
The police officer who was on duty in that area
was alerted to the scene after hearing loud noise coming from the INEC office
between INEC Officials and Party agents disagreeing about election materials
and results which was escorted by APC party agents from Bassambiri to INEC
office.
While the party agents were arguing that there
were no elections in Bassambiri and wondered why the results came from, the
officer tried to calm them down and ask that they write their petition to INEC
but all efforts proved abortive. The number of the youths grew and
the INEC officials felt unsafe and demanded to be escorted to Yenagoa with the
election materials. Then in order to avoid imminent breaking down of law
and order by the thugs around, the officer informed the Commissioner of Police,
Balyesa and he directed that both officials of INEC and the materials should be
moved to the state capital, Yenagoa for safety. This was agreed with the military
officers on duty.
Crime Guard learned that it was in the process
of embarking on the jetty, one of the party candidates led youths in their
hundreds and attacked the officer, dragging and assaulting him with threats to
kill him and everyone if he failed to direct the INEC officials to go back to
the office and continue collation of results. The INEC officials were forced
back to continue with the collation of results under a very tensed condition
with sporadic shootings all over.
Meanwhile, as soon as they abducted the
officer, the armed youths numbering hundreds dragged him to an unknown place
where they subjected him to untold torture and severe beating and in the
process, his uniform including his rank were torn to pieces. Sources said
the youths were chanting war songs and saying that the police officer must
die. They later sat him down in a wooden box and brought out daggers and
other dangerous weapons preparatory to beheading him in spite of passionate
pleas by the officer.
Luckily, while they were waiting for the final
order by their leader to carry out their threat, mother luck smiled on the
officer as a message came from one of them that INEC officials have gone back
to authenticate their manipulated results. That was how they left the
police officer and trooped to the venue to complete their mission. The officer
who reportedly regained his freedom around 11 am that same day was rescued by
one of the police Marine units who were already dispatched to comb the creeks
for their missing officer by the Inspector-General of Police.
He was rescued and taken to AGIP by the Police
Marine unit after which he went back to his station.
An eye witness told Crime Guard that the same
armed group had earlier in the night invaded the quite community of Bassambiri
with the singular aim of scaring away all opposition party members and the
electorates in general. According to him; all through the night of that
fateful Friday, the hoodlums shot, maimed several persons and killed one
person. “They also forcefully seized INEC officials with their materials
and placed them under duress to assist them in manipulating the card reader and
other technical aspects of the electoral process.
As at press time, it was reliably gathered that
the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frederic Lakanu, who was swiftly
dispatched by the Inspector-General of Police to Bayelsa to investigate the
ugly incident had already set the ball rolling by visiting the troubled area in
Brass Island. While addressing senior officers at the Bayelsa State
Police Command, he condemned the act in its entirety and vowed to identify
arrest and prosecute all those connected with the assault, their proxies and
sponsors. He appreciated the conduct displayed by the officers in the
face of the obvious provocation and ordered the reinforcement of officers to
flashpoints in the state in order to forestall ant break down of law and order
in the state.
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