· New CP in Rivers State seems full of fight as he seems to go where his predecessor merely looked away from
· But many wonder if the steam will continue?
By Ignatius Chukwu
The new police boss in Rivers State comes with huge academic and professional profile. With a doctorate in his academic belt and a smoking gun from his Mopol wars, the new commander seems to justify his profile. He fights and he addresses the media, seeking to win in both the gun duels and in the media wars by putting the police story first instead of waiting to come with rejoinders.
Details:
The new police commander sent to Port Harcourt as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State after Okon Effiong was returned to Abuja has refused to stand and watch gang wars taking place in Rivers State after the elections.
The CP, Dr Nwonyi Polycarp Emeka, a lawyer, who holds a doctorate degree, arrived on May 25, 2023, to replace Effiong who supervised the election processes but attracted huge accusations and condemnations from the opposition who said they got no single protection from the police. The height was when the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state held their Port Harcourt rally and suffered dynamite attacks but Effiong toed the line of the Rivers State government in saying it was not true.
The other incident was the butchering of APC election supervisor in Ahoada area on the presidential election day. Under pressure, Effiong promised to produce the killers but did not, just as he did not present the result of the investigation he claimed to have instituted in the bomb attack in PH.
The new CP waltzed into the state with apparent smoking guns. Most of the gangs in notorious areas such as Diobu in Port Harcourt, Ahoada, Omoku, etc, were believed to be fighting internal wars for reasons believed to be disagreements with the fallouts of the elections.
The new CP did not wait for the traditional press statement that announces the arrival of a new commander but used action to underline his arrival.
The police spokesman in the state, Mrs Grace Iringe-Koko, however, informed that the new CP, Dr Emeka, hails from Ezza South Local Government Area in Ebonyi State.
“He holds a doctorate in Applied Psychology (Personnel Management) from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Oweje, Ogun State. “He was appointed into the Nigeria Police Force on 26th June 1994, and on completion of his training he was posted to Cross River State Command.
He has served in various departments in the Nigeria Police Force and in locations including Anti-Robbery in Zone 6 Headquarters in Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Rivers State from 1996- 2001. He was in the Lagos Command at a point as well as at the EFCC Headquarters, in Counter Terrorism, Economic Sabotage and Intelligence and Miscellaneous Unit. Provost, banking fraud.
A seasoned Mopol man, Emeka seems eager and ready for fights; and he is giving it to the gangs.
He has cracked a suspected child trafficking/abduction squad eagle-eyed operatives. He said he distress calls from a local vigilante via the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) at Rumuoghalu that they had discovered a building close to Akas Estate at Rumuekini Community in Obio/ Akpor LGA and arrested the culprits who later confessed to the press.
He has also neutralized alleged notorious member of a cult gang at Emouha. The gangster is believed to be among those that carried out an attack at Mgbola Village, Ndele Emohua LGA, on Tuesday, 30th May, 2023, where four persons were left dead.
On Wednesday, 31st May, 2023, the Dey-Gbam Cult Group was said to have invaded the community again. In a shootout between the cultists and the Police/local vigilantes, Azunda Elechi was fatally injured. One pump action and two live cartridges with three empty cartridge shells were recovered.
Emeka urged parents/guardians to monitor the activities of their children/wards so as to ensure they do not succumb to societal pressures to do crime.
Soon, gang leader from a particular cult group who allegedly raped a pastor’s wife to death during the Effiong era was shot dead. The victim’s husband is an assistant pastor at Seventh Day Adventist Church at Abarikpo community, Akoh kingdom, Ahoada East LGA.
He was allegedly killed by a rival cult group. Next, four deadly cultists shot dead in gun-battle with police in Rivers by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command who shot the suspected cultists dead during a gun-duel at Rundele Community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The CP, Emeka, displayed the bodies at a news conference at the Police headquarters, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
He said those killed were part of notorious cult members of Degbam Cult group that attacked Mgbuelia community and killed four persons and beheaded two in Emohua local government area.
The CP reiterated his vow on resumption of duty to take the war to criminals in their various hideouts and to rid the state of criminal elements.
He insisted that the command, under his watch, would do everything possible to ensure security of lives and properties of Rivers people.
Nwonye listed exhibits recovered as from the deceased as two pump action guns, one locally made gun and empty cartridges of AK 47.
The cult war raged in Ahoada East where a cult ‘General’ was killed and others escaped with bullet wounds as police thwarted a bloody clash.
The Ahoada Police Division on Sunday (June 3,2023) thwarted a supremacy battle between Iceland and Greenland cult groups at Udebu community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, we learned.
Community sources told reporters that members of the cult groups had mobilized to engage in a supremacy battle at the community at about 5pm when they were intercepted by the Police who were acting on a tip off.
Sourced disclosed that one suspect and two other suspected cultists were fatally wounded by the Police in exchange of gun fire with the hoodlums.
A native of the community disclosed that a ‘General’ of one of the groups from Ahoada East LGA and other cultists escaped with bullet wounds.
It was gathered that one locally fabricated G-3 Riffle, a locally fabricated pistol which uses AK 47 ammunition, charms and other dangerous weapons were recovered from the hoodlums’ by the Police .
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police command, Grace Iringe Koko confirmed that three suspected cultists were fatally wounded by the Police in Udebu in exchange of gunfire but did not give further details.
The new CP has already given account of the war with gangs. He mentioned arrest of cult suspects, recovery of weapons, re-arrest of jailbreakers, arrest of two notorious car snatchers, etc.
He said: “The Command is not relenting in the fight against crime and criminality in the State. Since my assumption as the 44th Commissioner of Police in the State, I have vowed to rid out all forms of criminal activities, and to make the State habitable for those doing genuine business.
“On June 1, 2023, based on information, operatives of the Command raided the house of one Prince Ake of Ekpena Community in Ahoada East LGA, hideout of a notorious Greenlander cult group, and arrested one Progress Moses, aka Body Blinks aged 25 years of the same address.
“On June 2, 2023, operatives of the Command arrested one Peter Ogudo, aged 32, a native of Awara in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, in his hideout at Nkpor- Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, for the murder of two persons in his community. The suspect had been on the watch list of the Police since he escaped from lawful custody during jailbreak in the Owerri Correctional Centre in April 2021.”
The account was endless, a sign that the gangs are getting the hot rod.
He has posted to Ahoada zone a commander feared by criminals. He has been described as a CP that matches words with action, something the state had been yearning for.
A source said: “Information reaching our desk has it that there is palpable tension in camps of cult groups terrorizing Ahoada areas over the strategic deployment by the CP. We gathered that CP Emeka in a bid to ensure cultism and other violent crimes were effectively tackled, has redeployed the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in Ahoada, Ahoada East and Akinima, Ahoada West LGAs. We learned that CP Emeka deployed SP Bako to take charge of Ahoada Police Division and another seasoned crime fighter to Akinima Police Division.
Meanwhile, the CP has warned the various vigilance groups operating in the state to desist from extortion, unlawful detention or torture of any arrested suspect.
The police boss gave the warning in a Riot Act read to the local security group at a stakeholders meeting with people of Rivers East Senatorial District, held in Port Harcourt.
He appreciated their contributions in crime fighting but said they must not detain suspects.
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