From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Police Command has declared former Niger Delta militant leader, Gabriel ‘General’ Asabuja, wanted following his alleged provocative statements in a viral video concerning the ongoing crisis in the state.
The Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, disclosed this when he appeared on a television live programme in Port Harcourt on Tuesday night.
He condemned the ex-militant’s actions, emphasising the panic and concern generated by his threats in the state and beyond.
The CP assured members of the public that law enforcement agencies had initiated actions to apprehend the former militant leader.
He stressed the seriousness with which such threats were being handled by the security agencies.
Disu reiterated that Asabuja’s defiance in response to previous police invitations would not deter efforts to bring him to justice.
In a related development, the state government has identified the prime suspect in the explosion that occurred during a protest in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, which claimed a life.
The Commissioner for Health, Adaeze Oreh told journalists at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Port Harcourt, that the suspect was brought in by a few individuals, who presented him as an accident victim at the accident and emergency ward of the hospital.
The Commissioner said upon examination, doctors discovered that his injuries resembled that of a blast and alerted the authorities.
She said most of the people who brought the blast suspect had disappeared, and was found with only one person.
She added that tight security has been mounted by officers and men of the state Police Command in and around the facility as part of police mandate to secure law-abiding citizens, and particularly patients and staff of the facility.
She said: “A call was put out by the state government on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, alerting all medical facility owners, both public and private in the state, about a failed attempt to detonate an explosive at the axis of Hotel Presidential.
“The reason for that was for them to be vigilant, with heightened sense of alert, and high index of suspicion, should any individual present himself at any of the medical facilities with injury suggestive of a traumatic amputation of an upper limb.
“Following the call, our medical facilities in the state were on a heightened sense of alert.
“And so, when a young man was brought to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) with alleged injury sustained during what was said to be a road accident, the medical personnel that were on hand to examine him and offer medical care were on alert, and immediately recognised that the injuries that were seen on the individual were not in tandem with a road traffic accident, but rather resembled injury that would have come from a blast.”
Oreh said the medical personnel were doing everything possible to ensure that the suspect is stable and respond rightly to medical care provided to him.
She explained that several individuals were seen, who assisted to bring in the suspect to the medical facility, but have all left except for one person who had stayed back to watch over the suspect.
Oreh stated that the management of RSUTH and the state government were working in collaboration with the Police that has been duly notified and already playing its role in investigating the incident and the suspect.
“The individual was taken to the theatre for immediate resuscitation because as of the time he was brought in, he was semi-conscious, but the medical personnel did the needful and immediately informed the Rivers State Government.
“Immediately too, they informed the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and the Rivers State Ministry of Health about the presence of that individual in the facility, even when providing emergency medical care to revive and resuscitate him.”
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed that the suspect was in protective custody and investigation into the matter had commenced.
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