The embattled member of the House of Representatives, Farah Dagogo, has accused the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka, of bias following his claims on circumstances that led to his arrest and detention.
Eboka, on a television programme, narrated the circumstances that led to Dagogo’s detention.
He said: “On April 27, during screening for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for House of Assembly and House of Representatives, about 30 boys stormed the venue with weapons like daggers, cutlass, axes, and they were singing cult songs. Some of them were saying no Farah, no screening, no Farah, no PDP.
“They were shooting indiscriminately. Our men on ground had to chase them and about 15 were arrested. Their behaviour that day and the fact that they were mentioning Farah made the governor declare him wanted.
“I am not aware of their (Wike and Farah) political differences. We are not here for politics. We are fighting crime and criminality. We cannot watch people come to a gathering and start shooting indiscriminately, disrupting the process.
“The following day, Farah came to the same venue; he was identified and arrested based on what happened the previous day. We invited him, told him what happened, but he refused to make any statement. He also refused to call his lawyer. We then prepared charges and took him to court the following day.”
But Dagogo’s media aide, Ibrahim Lawal, countered Eboka’s account, insisting there was no incident by any member of the public on April 27 as the screening went smoothly and was concluded the next day.
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Lawal said the sporadic gunshots witnessed on that day were fired by the policemen who were harassing and molesting party faithful who came to support the aspirants.
He said: “Dr. Farah Dagogo is a governorship aspirant and was never at the venue for the screening of National and State Assembly aspirants. The 15 persons the CP claimed were arrested as cultists have since been interrogated and charged to court, our lawyers are privy to their statements.
“None of them mentioned Dagogo as the one who brought them to the secretariat. They explained their presence to the police in their statements that they are party faithful, who went there to support their aspirants. Again, Farah Dagogo is not an aspirant for those positions.””
Lawal also said Eboka didn’t invite Dagogo, and challenged him to present proof of the invitation. He said Eboka did not disclose the fact that he had a telephone conversation with Dagogo few minutes before he went to the screening venue, and that he told the lawmaker that Governor Nyesom Wike had no powers to declare him wanted.
The media aide asked Eboka to provide evidence to justify his claims that the 30 boys stormed the venue with weapons.
He appealed to the Inspector-General of Police to begin investigation into the circumstances that led to Dagogo’s arrest.
“Dr. Dagogo’s health condition is now perilous. A request from the personal physician to the lawmaker for a referral to another medical facility was thwarted by the the Rivers State government through its Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. Dr. Dagogo is a responsible lawmaker and he is entitled to adequate medical care,” he added.
