- Police are lying – Reporter
- Lawyers react
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Police Command has denied intimidating, and harassing Mr Chinedu Orlu-Orlu, a reporter with Today 95.1FM, when they used him to lure and arrest Mr Kingsley Victor Woko, the Community Development Chairman of Rumuaholu in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (LGA).
Secretary of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State chapter, Mr Ike Wigido, in an interview with Journalists Wednesday, said when he went to meet the leadership of the Police in the state, the Commander of the Commissioner of Police (CP) Monitoring Unit in charge of the matter disclosed that Mr Orlu-Orlu was not harassed or intimidated when he was used to luring and arrest the suspect last Monday.
Meanwhile, Mr Orlu-Orlu has described as a misrepresentation of fact, the statement credited to the CP’s Monitoring Unit commander.
Orlu-Orlu said: “If the Police will deny they did not harass me, they are lying. They harassed me, they took me out at gunpoint; all of them that came, five of them were with guns.
“After they dialled his (CDC chairman) number in my phone and his line came out as the current CDC Chairman. They told me that if I don’t produce him, they would hold me down, even if it is two years, and that they will deal with me.
“I asked them the station they came from, they did not tell me the station, they said they will not tell me anything.
“So, they threatened me. I was so afraid because they came like kidnappers. They did not come like normal Police officers. There was no form of identification on them. They (Police) came in a kidnapping form.
“They threatened my life. Immediately they used my line to call him, then, he came out. They pushed me away in his presence before the entire community, where people were seeing that this is the man, who he (CDC Chairman) usually calls to come for news coverage. It now looks like I am the one who brought the Police to arrest the CDC chairman.
“I did not believe they were Police officers until the CDC chairman’s lawyer found out that they (policemen) came from the State CIID.
Meanwhile, lawyers have reacted to the allegation and faulted the police for threatening the journalist and exposing him to danger.
The legal practitioners said police violated the rights of Orlu-Orlu and charged NUJ, Rivers State to take up the matter to court.