Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the Nigerian Police of withholding information on the death of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mohammed Alkali, who was murdered during the rerun legislative elections in the state.
Wike challenged the force to inform the world how and where he was murdered instead of trying to cover obvious facts.
The governor also wondered why the police have refused to make public the communication that an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former Commissioner for Power, Mr Augustine Nwokocha, allegedly had with the killers before the DSP was brutally murdered.
Wike spoke yesterday when he granted audience to the management of Independent Newspapers Limited at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
He said: “The police should let the world know where the DSP was killed? What is the polling unit where he was killed? The former commissioner of power who was mentioned by the killers, has he been questioned?
“Where is the call log of that former commissioner as communicated with the killers? Have they checked the discussions between the commissioner and the arrested killers?
“They know the truth, but they want to cover a lot of things. The army announced that they recovered the uniforms from the forest, was there a polling unit in the forest?”
He noted that the steps being taken to blackmail the state government would fail because the Rivers people cannot be cowed.
He appealed to journalists to always defend the truth and speak out regularly.
He said: “The survival of democracy to a large extent depends on a vibrant media. Certain things happening in the country must be made public by the media.”
On the award of the “Man-of-the-Year 2016” by the Independent Newspapers Limited, Wike dedicated the award to God and the people of the state.
He said: “When you have the opportunity to serve and make a difference, excuses will not be tolerated by the people. That is why we are committed to the development of the state.”
Earlier, the Managing Director of Independent Newspapers Limited, Mr. Ted Iwere, stated that the Editorial Board and Board of Editors of Independent Newspapers Limited resolved to honour Wike as the Man-of-the-Year 2016 for his sterling performance in the areas of infrastructure, human capital development and internal revenue generation.
