By Adesina Soyooye
The reason why the Nigeria Police invaded the home of former Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Barr Joi Nunieh, would shock many people.
In the heat of the probe, by an Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives, of the contract scandal at the Commission, Nunieh had made damning revelations against the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio. Akpabio had sacked Nunieh as the M.D. a some months earlier.
A couple of days later, after Akpabio replied Nunieh, saying she was sacked because she was not qualified for the job, having not participated in the mandatory National Youth Service, even when she was mobilised to Kwara State from Law School, dozens of Policemen invaded Ms. Nunieh’s home in Port Hacourt, at an uncivilized time – 4.00am – to arrest him. She contacted Governor Wike, who rushed to her house and rescued her from the Policemen who had no Warrant Of Arrest. Wike took her to the Government House, away from the reach of the Police.
Nunieh was billed to travel to Abuja that morning to testify before the House Committee. The invasion prevented her from doing so.
Nobody knew why the Police went after her, but everybody felt it had to do with the NDDC Probe. Some said they wanted to stop her from making more damning revelations.
But according to Wike, the Police told him they invaded Nunieh’s home over her NYSC certificate.
For the records, this was the same offence former Minister for Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, committed, and was harrassed by nobody.
Instead, she boarded the next British Airways aircraft, after she quit from office, and headed for Britain to join her family.
Wike made this revelation while speaking on a Channel’s Television interview programme, Tuesday morning. What irks Wike most is not even the differential treatment meter out to Nunieh when compared to that given to Adeosun. Two things irk him most.
One, that about 50 Policemen were deployed to arrest a woman at 4.00am, instead of inviting her over to their office in writing.
And, two: that the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, would brazenly lie to him, and deceive the nation by telling two different stories within a space of one hour.
According to Wike, he invited the CP who told him that he was not aware of the operation at Nunieh’s. But to his disbelief, within an hour, the CP called him, and now said he knew about it, and that it was over a petition concerning her NYSC certificate.
Wike then asked how anybody would trust a CP who, within a space of an hour, changed his story line two times. “I can’t deal with such people”, he said.
Recall that a day after Wike rescued Nunieh, both the Rivers Police Command, and the CP denied saying they were ignorant of the operation at Ms. Nunieh’s, with the CP asking Wike to hand over Nunieh to him.
Wike never did, and nothing has been heard of the case till date. But many people, including the revered Oba of Benin, have praised and thanked Wike for his heroic act in rescuing Nunieh.
Meanwhile, the contract scandal at the NDDC, gets worse with every new day.
