BOKO HARAM: MBU SHUNS JIGAWA LAWMAKERS

Efforts by a delegation from the Jigawa State House of Assembly to meet with the Rivers State commissioner of police, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu over the arrest and detention of 296 Northerners suspected to be members of Boko Haram, failed as neither the police boss nor his deputies were on ground to receive them.
The Rivers State Police Command had on Wednesday evening released 275 of the suspects, while 19 were still kept behind bars for further investigation as security agents that interrogated them found out that they could not explain their mission to the state.
A source close to the lawmakers told LEADERSHIP Friday that the commissioner of police, said to be out of the state, was aware of the visit of the legislators, who arrived Port Harcourt Wednesday afternoon.
An assistant commissioner of police (names withheld), who received the lawmakers, however told them that he was not in the position to speak on behalf of the commissioner and the state police command.
Speaking to journalists at the Police headquarters in Port Harcourt, spokesman of the delegation, Hon Shehu Liman Wan, said information available to them indicated that the 296 people were arrested at different entry points into Rivers State and not while in a 17-car convoy as reported by the media.
Wan, who represents Kalugama Constituency in the Jigawa State House of Assembly, also stated that information received from leaders of the Hausa community in Rivers State, showed that nothing incriminatory was found on the detainees, adding that most of those arrested were petty traders, cobblers and truck-pushers.
He said, “We are here because of the arrest of our people from Jigawa State by the police. We have been here since yesterday and our investigations have shown that 296 people were arrested and 275 have been released. On our arrival yesterday, almost all of them were released except 19, who are still being held by the police. Our mission here is finding out what really happened.
“The Hausa community leaders we have here are capable and trustworthy. They assured us that they are working with the police. What we are for is just for fact-finding and we will report back to the House and the House will know the next action to take. Almost all of them are from Jigawa State; let’s say 98% of them are from Jigawa. Among the ones still being detained, only two are from Kano and Bauchi.”
Source: Leadership