Police says report of abduction of students in Rivers is fake news

The Rivers State Police Commamd has described as fake, a report that gunmen hijacked a bus filled with students of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, Khana Local Government Area of the state.

The command was reacting to an online report claiming that the gunmen behind the purported hijack demanded for N2 million ransom to free the students.

However, the State Commissioner of Police, Eboka Friday in a statement by the spokeman of the command, Nnamdi Omoni in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the viral report is baseless, unverifiable and the handiwork of mischief-makers.

The statement also disclosed that the CP has ordered an investigation into the report, warning that anyone promoting fake news would be made to face the law.

According to the command’s spokesperson, preliminary investigations by the Command, including interface with the school authority revealed that no such thing happened.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a phantom online news on the above caption and would wish to immediately react as follows:

“That in recent times, the Ogoni communities have enjoyed fragile peace after the arrest and subsequent death of ‘Bobisky” the most dreaded kidnapper who was declared wanted by the state government with a bounty of N30 million.

“That the purported kidnap or hijack of a commercial bus carrying students is false baseless and not verifiable but only exists in the imagination of mischief-makers. That preliminary investigation carried out, including interfaces and interviews with the school authorities revealed that no such thing happened.

Read also: Police arraign pastor, lecturer over fake news

“It is also important to note that no family or parents reported a case of missing person and more importantly that the Polytechnic in question has been on holidays and only resumed yesterday 1/3/2021 with scanty activities, which clearly negatives the online report.

“In the light of the above, therefore, the Command is urging the public to disregard the report, as same is fake news and only intended to overheat the security situation in the state.

“To that extent should be discountenanced, as the new Commissioner of Police (CP) Eboka Friday is irrevocably committed to protecting the lives and property of all the residents of the state, while soliciting for the support and cooperation of all and sundry.

“Meanwhile, the CP has ordered investigation into the report and in the same vein warning all harbingers of fake news to desist forthwith or face the full weight of the law.”

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