By Kolawole Ojebisi
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has asked the Inspector General of Police to conduct full investigations into the siege laid to the Port Harcourt residence of former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joi Nunieh, by armed policemen in the early hours of Thursday.
Governor Wike also warned whoever was behind the failed abduction to back off adding that “we will fight back” should the situation repeat itself.
He said, “From what has happened now, I want to say that Rivers state is fully out. Anybody who is responsible for this attempted abduction of our daughter should know that enough is enough.
“They can’t treat her like a common criminal. I am sure that President Muhammadu Buhari is not aware of this. All the Niger Delta states should find out if any of their citizens have a hand in the unfortunate incident and call on such people to leave our daughter alone. She is no longer the managing-director of NDDC.”
The New Diplomat had reported how Nunieh, who was billed to travel to Abuja on Thursday to testify before the House of Representatives Committee probing the NDDC, could not make the trip due to the early morning invasion of her residence in Port Harcourt by armed policemen.
It took the intervention of Gov. Wike who whisked her to the Rivers State Government House to rescue her.
From Nunieh’s narration of the incident it was clear that she could not make the trip to Abuja after all, meaning that she did not testify on the scheduled time and date.
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Wike, who viewed the incident as failed abduction, wondered what Nigeria has come to for armed men to lay siege to the home of a woman who was to appear before the House of Representatives.
Governor Wike who was on ground to thwart the attempted abduction, berated those self-styled armed policemen who claimed to be members of the Inspector General Monitoring Unit.
The governor said under a civilised society, the proper thing to do is to invite her to answer to any allegation.
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But to storm her residence at such an unholy hour, the governor said, “suggests some sinister motive that should not be tolerated.”
“What has happened today is a disgrace. Who knows what would have happened to her if they had gained access to her main room. I went there personally to see things for myself and rescued her.
“She is supposed to testify before the House of Representatives Committee and here we are having armed men wanting to abduct her.
“We came out to protect our daughter and we will do so to every Rivers citizen. That is the oath of office I swore to. It doesn’t matter the political affiliation. We will not allow anybody to destroy Rivers state.” Wike said.
Wike, who noted that he would not back the former managing director if found culpable, added that he would not allow anyone to destroy the state.
“If there is any allegation of crime against her, I will not back her but you can’t kill her for no established crime. I don’t know who’s responsible but whoever is behind it should not take Rivers state for granted because we will fight back,” he said.
Recall that Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta affairs, and Nunieh had appeared before the senate ad hoc panel investigating the alleged mismanagement of N40 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the NDDC.
At the hearing, Akpabio said he did not know the expenditure of the NDDC under Nunieh because she refused to give him briefings but Nunieh countered him.
She said the minister engineered her sack for refusing to dance to his tune. She also made allegations of budget padding, fraud, among others,against Akpabio.
Meanwhile, Nunieh in her reaction to the invasion of her residence has said that she would not be cowed into silence stressing that “Nigerians will hear more” from her.
