Policemen deployed in the office of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC) have been chased away by crowd of persons around the facility ahead of the controversial local government elections billed for Saturday.
It was not certain who sent the police detachment to the facility around 1am on Friday since the police said they would not participate in the exercise.
The armed policemen were seen in a viral video being booed and called names such as “thieves” as they maneuvered their vehicles out of the place.
They were brought into the office premises on trucks and patrol vans but the crowd compelled them to make a u-turn.
It was gathered Governor Similanya Fubara, some officials of the State Government and some members of the House of Assembly stormed the facility following the incident.
A statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS) said the Governor foiled an attempt by the Police, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), to take over RSIEC at 1am on Friday, 4th October, 2024.
The statement said the rogue policemen attempted to scale the gates and strong room of the commission to cart away sensitive electoral materials meant for the conduct of Saturday’s local government election in the state.
He accused the Inspector-General of Police of ordering the deployment but said they were botched when vigilant security officials alerted principal officers of the commission and relevant government authorities, who immediately informed the governor of the development.
The statement said the Governor immediately led a team of government officials, lawmakers from the National Assembly, Rivers Assembly, top political stakeholders and other leaders to storm the facility.
