Attack on Omo-Agege; Delta CP receives knock for flippancy

…CP’s comments provocative and dangerous -Omo-Agege’s Aide

By Shedrack Onitsha————-

The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, Mr Zanna Ibrahim, has received knocks for the flippant statement credited to him in the media, where he allegedly denied the public attempt to assassinate Senator Ovie Omo-Agege at an event on Saturday.

Mr. Ibrahim had dismissed the claim by the APC Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, insisting that he was not aware of any assassination attempt on Sen. Omo-Agege adding that politicians are fond of making a mountain out of a mole hill.

“I don’t know about any assassination attempt on the senator. Didn’t he have policemen with him? I know he reported a complaint at the Ekpan police station that he was attacked by thugs during an empowerment program but I don’t know whether it boils down to an assassination attempt. My question is didn’t he have policemen with him? As a senator who will go on empowerment program will he go empty handed?

But in a swift reaction to the attempt by the CP to trivialize what many stakeholders in Delta described as a worrisome, the Senator’s aide on Media and Strategy, Barr Aruviere Martin Egharhevwa berated the Police for indiscretion on his comment over the attack.

In a press statement titled: “IS DELTA’S CP ZANNA IBRAHIM PROTECTING ASSASINS?,” Egharhevwa noted that while they are yet to recover from the trauma occasion by the attack, they were shocked at media report credited to the Delta CP, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim.

He frowned the CP’s characterisation of the grievous attack as some insignificant ‘mole hill’ wondering why the Police Commissioner  will consider Senator Omo-Agage’s claims as a false alarm made for his “own political gains.”

The statement reads in part:

“On Saturday, July 15, 2017, the Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, his wife, APC leaders, and members of the public were violently attacked by gunmen at Uvwie Local Government Area. Hundreds of persons witnessed this unprovoked and apparently well-coordinated broad daylight attack by the gunmen who brazenly opened gunfire during Senator Omo-Agege’s otherwise peaceful constituency ‘empowerment’ event in the LGA. Indeed, but for bullets that narrowly missed the senator as a direct target, a Senator of the Federal Republic would have been openly assassinated by now. This attempted assassination left in its bloody trail destruction of property and injuries to people, including Mr. Azania Omo-Agege – the senator’s brother.

“While we thank so many leaders and persons of goodwill for rightly condemning this daring public attempt to assassinate Urhobo Nation’s only senator and create anarchy with huge consequences for our national security, we are shocked by media comments credited to Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, the Delta State Commissioner of Police (CP), that the violence against Senator Omo-Agege is somehow a false alarm made for his “own political gains.” His characterisation of the grievous attack as some insignificant ‘mole hill’ event speaks volumes. By these alone, the CP has demonstrated a very shockingly dangerous and unexpected tolerance for the violent public crime against the Senator and the Delta APC. This ill-advised, provocative, and dangerous stance disqualifies the CP as an impartial arbiter to investigate the matter and bring the perpetuators to book.

“May we reiterate that Senator Omo-Agege, as a seasoned lawyer, duly reported the attack to the Police authorities and specifically named the ringleaders of the attack. Also, it is a fact that in coming to his conclusion that the attack is a ‘mountain created from a molehill’ for the senator’s “own political gains,” the CP did not arrest or interrogate any of the named attackers. He did not also, as part of an impartial criminal investigation, talk with the senator or any APC leader who were at the event. In other words, the CP reached his troubling final conclusion without any investigation!

“It is pertinent to raise some fundamental questions at this stage: Why is the CP denying the attack, when he himself ‘dispatched’ policemen to, as it were, stop the attackers? Whose interest is the CP serving by holding himself out so swiftly and dangerously as the chief advocate for the attackers? Why did the policemen dispatched by the CP fail to arrest the attackers who openly threatened to disarm them (policemen) at Ekpan? With the names of the main attackers duly reported to the Police, why has the CP himself declined to arrest the criminals? Why is the CP not interested in the source(s) of the dangerous arms and ammunitions used by the identified criminals? Who and what is the CP afraid of? Can the CP tell the world the “political gains” the senator stands to gain from the attack?

“On the whole, we submit with grave regret that the CP’s distasteful comments and conduct are sorely provocative and dangerous for national security. We therefore call on him to recues himself completely from the investigation of this serious matter. It is very unfortunate that he has shown himself to be a very clear and present danger to our people’s security and peace in Delta. For the huge weight our people attach to this attack, we demand that the Offices of the National Security Adviser to the President of the Federation, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS) jointly coordinate the investigation of this matter. This is the minimum requirement for confidence on the necessity of a thorough investigation. Any agenda by public officials who are compromised beyond redemption to cover up premeditated anarchy against our people will surely fail.”

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