…Arrest 3 vendors in Oyigbo, harasses others in Elelenwo, Rumuokoro.
By: Felix Ikpotor
The attack and harassment of innocent citizens in the state by the police, seems to have taken a new dimension as they have move to gag the press by clamping down on newspaper vendors in the state on cooked up charges.
Reports indicate that at least three of the vendors have been arrested and detained in Oyigbo LGA.
Ph Spectator recalls that recently men of the Federal Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS) were accused of killing a taxi driver in Emohua while five others were convicted by a Rivers State High court for killing two persons in Oyigbo in 2015.
The police was fined fifty million naira as compensation for the family of the deceased.
It was gathered that policemen in Oyigbo, Elelenwo and Rumuokoro areas of Port Harcourt have been harassing vendors without any reason.
Micah Imoh, Secretary of the Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria, Port Harcourt branch, stated that the police often invade their stands, confiscate their products, and often arrest the vendors.
He noted that the police demanded 20,000 naira to release each of the three vendors arrested in Oyigbo. One of the vendors was released when the wife brought 10,000 which was allegedly borrowed from their pastor.
Micah said: “Recently at Rumuokoro Junction some vendors were arrested, their papers seized and their umbrellas destroyed on daily basis by the police from Rumuokoro Divisional headquarters. Again they arrested three people from Oyibo. They have been chasing our vendors and do not want them to sell papers again.
“When we were contacted we approached the police for their bail, police asked us to pay the sum of N20,000 for each of them. Our officials reminded the police that bail according to them is free and besides the vendors did not commit any offence. The police refused them bail and insisted on charging the vendors to court. When the official’s demanded the IPO’s phone contact and the court vendors will be taken to, the DCO of the station ordered us to leave his office immediately.
“The moment our officials left the station, Mr. Ifeanyi Eboh, one of the persons arrested, was released with the sum of N10,000 through his pastor leaving now the other two vendors in their custody. In a similar incident at Elelenwo junction, vendors are not allowed to sell newspapers for about two weeks now.”
He further appealed: “We therefore call on the public to always protect, encourage and patronize our vendors while we call on Rivers State Government and all publishers of local and national papers to call come to our rescue as we demand the immediate and unconditional release of the innocent vendors whose offence was their essential duties and the immediate.
“We also want refund of the 10,000 bribe collected from Mr. Ifeanyi through his pastor before his released as we are ready to protest and abandon the sales of Newspapers in Rivers State until our demands are met.”
Confirming the attack, the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, DSP. Nnamdi Omoni, said police made some arrests in Oyibo, adding that the vendors were harbouring some persons who were causing nuisance in the area.
Omoni stated that the police arrested all the people in the stand, adding that all of them have also been released free of charge.
He averred that there is no order from the state command mandating clamp down on vendors, urging the vendors to remain law abiding.
