Rivers Violence: Police Declare Ex-militant Leader Wanted
…As Govt Identifies Prime Suspect in Dynamite Explosion
From MAUREEN DICK and ERIC MOORE, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Police Command has declared a former Niger Delta militant leader, Gabriel ‘General’ Asabuja, wanted following his alleged provocative statements in a viral video amid the ongoing crisis in the state.
State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, disclosed this on Tuesday night when he appeared on a television live programme in Port Harcourt.
Disu condemned the ex-militant’s actions, emphasizing the panic and concern generated by his threats in the state and beyond.
The State Police Commissioner assured members of the public that law enforcement agencies have initiated actions to apprehend the former militant leader.
He stressed the seriousness with which such threats were being handled by security agencies.
Disu reiterated that Asabuja’s defiance in response to previous police invitations will not deter efforts to bring him to justice.
In a related development, the State government has identified the prime suspect in the explosion that occurred during a protest in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, which claimed a life.
State Commissioner for Health, Adaeze Oreh, disclosed this on Tuesday night while addressing journalists at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Port Harcourt.
Oreh stated that the suspect was brought in by few individuals, who presented him as accident victim at the Accident and Emergency Ward of the hospital.
The Health Commissioner said upon examination, doctors discovered that his injuries resembled that of a blast and alerted the authorities.
She said most of the people who brought the blast suspect had disappeared, and was found with only one person.
The Health Commissioner added that tight security has been mounted by officers and men of the Rivers State Police Command in and around the facility as part of police mandate to secure law-abiding citizens, and particularly patients and staff of the facility.
She said: “A call was put out by the State Government on Tuesday, 25th June, 2024, alerting all owners of the medical facilities, both public and private in the State, about a failed attempt to detonate an explosive at the axis of Hotel Presidential.
“The reason for that was for them to be vigilant, with heightened sense of alert, and high index of suspicion, should any individual present himself at any of the medical facilities with injury suggestive of a traumatic amputation of an upper limp.
“Following from that call, our medical facilities in the State were on a heightened sense of alert.
“And so, when a young man was brought to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) with alleged injury sustained during what was said to be a road accident, the medical personnel that were on hand to examine him and offer medical care were on alert, and immediately recognised that the injuries that were seen on the individual were not in tandem with a road traffic accident, and rather resembled injury that would have come from a blast.”
Oreh said that the medical personnel were doing everything possible to ensure that the suspect is stable and respond rightly to medical care provided to him.
She explained that several individuals were seen, who assisted to bring in the suspect to the medical facility but have all left except for one person who had stayed back to watch over the suspect.
Oreh stated that the management of RSUTH and the State Government were working in collaboration with the Nigeria Police that has been duly notified and already playing its role in investigating the incident and the suspect.
She said: “The individual was taken to the theater for immediate resuscitation because as at the time he was brought in, he was semi-conscious but the medical personnel did the needful and immediately informed the Rivers State Government.
“Immediately too, they informed the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and the Rivers State Ministry of Health about the presence of that individual in the facility even when providing emergency medical care to revive and resuscitate him.”
Oreh emphasised: “He is currently stable. We are working in tandem with the Rivers State Police Command, and the hospital has been fully secured; fences and perimeters have been fully secured.
“The patient is undergoing current medical treatment. He is stable and the Police is doing their own part by carrying out the necessary investigation.”