Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike says the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu in a telephone conversation on the eve of Edo governorship election ordered him to leave the state immediately.
Wike was chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship campaign in Edo. PDP had alleged that more than 100 policemen laid a siege at the hotel where Wike and other PDP governors stayed on the eve of Edo polls.
PDP candidate Governor Godwin Obaseki won the election for a second term.
In an appearance on Channels Television’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily on Friday, Wike said he perceived the IGP was upset with him because he challenged the illegal deduction of the Rivers State financial allocation for the police fund.
“The IG never saw me outside. I was inside my room and I got a call from the IG that I must leave Edo State. What surprised me was why should I leave Edo State? I am the chairman of the campaign council and the chairman does not mean that after the campaign, you leave. No, you must monitor what is going on so that at the end of the day, you would be able to write your report,” he said.
“I discovered that the IG’s own had nothing to do with the election because I remembered that some time ago my commissioner returned to me from a FAAC meeting and said there were deductions made to the Police Trust Fund.
“I asked who approved it because the police are under the exclusive list and not the concurrent list. I told my attorney-general to challenge it. This angered the IG.”
Wike further stated that the police boss was angry with him for obstructing the arrest of a former acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission Joi Nunieh.
