By Tobi Smith
Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and Inspector General Onovo of the Nigeria Police have been called on to sanction Ogun State Commissioner of Police, CP Alimi Agugu, for his very suspicious, unprofessional and slanderous statements regarding the Sunday, August 2nd armed attack, by unknown persons, on MEND Leader Henry Okah, his lawyer Barrister Wilson Ajuwa, and UNDEDSS Secretary-General Tony I. Uranta, who were returning to Lagos after a fruitful meeting with Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, at his Abeokuta residence.
Rising from an Emergency Executive Meeting to review current Niger Delta realities, including the status of the FGN’s Amnesty package and the call by Niger Delta Elders and Leaders for non-violent resistance to the perceived hollowness of the package, UNDEDSS President, Professor Pat Utomi declared the region’s “disappointment in Governor Daniel, as Ogun State’s Chief Security Officer, for not promptly sanctioning CP Agugu who, by his prejudicial claim (before any police investigation or official conclusion to that effect!) that Okah and co were not attacked by armed robbers, despite these gentlemen’s having duly and promptly reported the attack to the Nigeria Police and to members of Governor Daniel’s cabinet; thus creating the perception that the Ogun State Government and Police Command may know more about the armed attack than they are letting on.”
UNDEDSS Secretary-General, Mr. Tony I. Uranta (himself one of the victims of the dastardly attack) stated that Messrs Okah, Ajuwa and himself are looking into the possibilities of legal and other actions against CP Agugu, his employers (the Nigeria Police) and the government, pointing out that “it is obvious that the chances of recovering my new car and our other personal belongings, which were taken away by the armed hoodlums, must be next to zero, because it is not unlikely that CP Agugu has not initiated necessary and timely police action. Agugu’s also guilty of casting undeserved, slanderous and damaging aspersions on the persons of Okah, Ajuwa and myself (not to mention my Ogun-State-born driver, Segun) since he’s saying that we are liars and not to be trusted.”
UNDEDSS also threw its weight behind the resolution, by the Niger Delta Elders and Leaders, to commence non-violent social action, from Tuesday August 11th, to highlight the inadequacies of President Yar’Adua’s Amnesty sop as presently packaged and the many anti-Niger Delta policies and programmes of his administration to date.
Finally, UNDEDSS reiterated its support for the peace-seeking process embarked upon by Mr. Henry Okah and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), including both MEND’s subsisting unilateral ceasefire and Mr. Okah’s ongoing meetings with MEND commanders, on the one hand, and with the FGN team led by the President’s Special Adviser on the Niger Delta, Mr. Timi Alaibe, all of which talks are yielding the desired fruit of expediting the disarmament and decommissioning of the militias for a true and sustainable peace based on justice for the Niger Delta.
http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/Article.aspx?id=2077
