The House of Representatives Joint Committee on Army and Police Affairs, yesterday, cited “irreconcilable contradictions and obvious perjury” in the accounts of Nigerian Army and Police over the violence in Rivers State during the 2019 general elections.
Chairman of the Joint Committee, Rimande Shawulu (PDP, Taraba), and a member, Timothy Golu (PDP, Plateau), stated this in Abuja during an investigative hearing into the election crisis that rocked the state, leading to the death of about 24 persons.
This, according to a Daily Trust report, followed submissions by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division Port Harcourt, Major Gen. Jamil Sarham; Commissioner, Rivers State Police Command, Usman Hassan; as well as a letter by the Head of Rivers SARS, Akin Fakorode.
Fakorode, in a letter dated 6 May, 2019, told the Joint Committee investigating an “alleged killing of Dr. Ferry Gberigbe and others by men of Rivers SARS,” that the victim died of heart attack from poisoned foods by his associates, and not from gunshot wounds by SARS, as alleged.
“Dr. Ferry Gbeyegbe was killed by friends and associates and not men of SARS. The bullet that killed Ferry was not from the Police rifle but from a local rifle.
“In fact, Ferry did not die from gunshot wounds, but from heart attack occasioned by food poisoning,” Fakorode’s wrote.
However, the Police Commissioner, Hassan, informed the lawmakers that investigation on the death of the victims was still ongoing, and that no autopsy had been conducted to ascertain the cause of the deaths.
“On the case of Ferry Gbeyegbe, the murder is still under investigation. Even the police have not had access to the corpse. The Police cannot state at this point the cause of Gbeyegbe’s death,” Hassan said.
On his part, Gen. Sarham’s said “every action taken by the army was in response to the request, and in support of the Nigerian Police,” adding that 24 persons, including three soldiers were killed in the violence. This was also countered by the Police Commissioner who claimed that “there was no time the police officially wrote to the army for assistance during the elections.”
It was at this point that the lawmakers faulted the contradictory submissions by the security personnel, urging truth and sincerity into the fact-finding investigation, and to ensure that those found culpable are appropriately punished.
“There is obvious contradiction here. How did Fakorode know the type of bullet that killed Dr. Gberigbe whereas no autopsy has been conducted?
“Which one do we take now: that Dr. Gberigbe died of gunshot wounds, heart attack or food poisoning?” Chairman Shawulu asked the security personnel.
Golu, however, reminded the security chiefs that they were under oath, and thus might be risking perjury having sworn to “uphold nothing but the truth.”