LAGOS—Vivid details of the role played by the police in
Rivers State during the aborted arrest of a judge of the
Federal High court in Port Harcourt, in the early hours
of Saturday emerged yesterday, after sources disclosed
that the Directorate of State Services, DSS, in the
state informed the Commissioner of Police about the
operation before it started.
It was gathered that the DSS in the state had earlier
called to inform the Commissioner of Police, Francis
Odesanya, that his men were going to effect the arrest.
The police boss reportedly complied accordingly by
directing his men to cooperate and give them all
necessary support.
According to police sources, it was in the early hours of
the morning and nobody would have been expected to
open his doors freely to visitors, so, the judge refused to
open his doors to DSS officials.
The source said: “The DSS office shares the same fence
with that of the judge. If they had wanted to accomplish
the arrest successfully without much fuss, there are
many options left for them.
‘’They should have either scaled the fence to enter the
compound or gone with the necessary instruments for
the operation.
‘’The governor arrived there with a retinue of members
of his cabinet and members of the House of Assembly.
While the DSS operatives were dilly-dallying, the
governor and his team started obstructing them.
“When the situation was getting intolerable around 1am,
the Commissioner of Police arrived the scene. He spoke
with the DSS boss and later went to persuade the
governor to allow them do their work advising that if
there was any breach, it should follow due process later.
‘’The commissioner of police reportedly insisted that the
governor should not obstruct justice. When the
governor refused to give way, the police boss ordered
his ADC to move away from the scene and he complied.
‘’The DSS attempted to move in but the governor, again
without his ADC and other policemen that accompanied
him who were obeying the Cp’s order, started
obstructing them.”
This, according to sources, was the stand-off until
around 4am when journalists and other interested
parties arrived.
Rivers State during the aborted arrest of a judge of the
Federal High court in Port Harcourt, in the early hours
of Saturday emerged yesterday, after sources disclosed
that the Directorate of State Services, DSS, in the
state informed the Commissioner of Police about the
operation before it started.
It was gathered that the DSS in the state had earlier
called to inform the Commissioner of Police, Francis
Odesanya, that his men were going to effect the arrest.
The police boss reportedly complied accordingly by
directing his men to cooperate and give them all
necessary support.
According to police sources, it was in the early hours of
the morning and nobody would have been expected to
open his doors freely to visitors, so, the judge refused to
open his doors to DSS officials.
The source said: “The DSS office shares the same fence
with that of the judge. If they had wanted to accomplish
the arrest successfully without much fuss, there are
many options left for them.
‘’They should have either scaled the fence to enter the
compound or gone with the necessary instruments for
the operation.
‘’The governor arrived there with a retinue of members
of his cabinet and members of the House of Assembly.
While the DSS operatives were dilly-dallying, the
governor and his team started obstructing them.
“When the situation was getting intolerable around 1am,
the Commissioner of Police arrived the scene. He spoke
with the DSS boss and later went to persuade the
governor to allow them do their work advising that if
there was any breach, it should follow due process later.
‘’The commissioner of police reportedly insisted that the
governor should not obstruct justice. When the
governor refused to give way, the police boss ordered
his ADC to move away from the scene and he complied.
‘’The DSS attempted to move in but the governor, again
without his ADC and other policemen that accompanied
him who were obeying the Cp’s order, started
obstructing them.”
This, according to sources, was the stand-off until
around 4am when journalists and other interested
parties arrived.
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