DPO, 4 policemen detained for killing wheelbarrow operator, another in Rivers

The Rivers State Police Command has arrested and detained the Divisional Police Officer of the Mile 3 Nkpolu Police Station in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Baridon Monsi, and seven other policemen for allegedly killing a 16-year-old porter and an unidentified man at the police station.

According to reports, Monsi alledgedly ordered the killing of the porter, identified as Abdullahi Idris, and the other man after they were wrongly accused of stealing a generator.

Some youths were said to have on Saturday accosted and beaten up Idris, who used his wheelbarrow to convey the generator on the instructions of the owner.

Idris and the unidentified man were later arrested by policemen from the Mile 3 Police Station and detained on the orders of the DPO.

The South-South/South-East Coordinator of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Musa Saidu, who spoke to journalists on the development, said he was shocked over the murder of Idris and the owner of the generator, adding that the porter only came to Port Harcourt two months ago.

Saidu said: “Abdullahi Idris was only two months old in Port Harcourt. He was a porter before he met his untimely death.

“The deceased was hired by someone to convey a generator for him. He was accosted by a group of boys, who accused him of stealing the generator.

“They beat him up mercilessly before he was arrested by the men of the Mile 3 Nkpolu Police Station. At the station, the DPO ordered that the deceased be detained.

“In the evening, Idris’ relations went to the station to see him, only to find his wheelbarrow in front of the police station.

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“We called the DPO and he asked us to come back later and when we did, we could not see him. We called his line several times and he did not answer his calls.

“When we inquired further, we were reliably informed that the DPO ordered his men to shoot the boy before the evening appointment he gave us. It was at this point that we contacted the Commissioner of Police, who went straight to the station to see things for himself.

“The DPO lied to the Commissioner of Police that the deceased was shot because he and his group wanted to shoot him (the DPO).

“The DPO took the CP to where Idris and the owner of the generator were buried and the CP ordered that the bodies be exhumed. He also directed that both the DPO and the other policemen involved in the death of the two should be arrested.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, adding that the DPO and four other policemen had been arrested and were being detained over the matter.

“I can confirm the incident. The DPO and four others have been arrested and detained, while investigation is ongoing,” Omoni said.

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