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Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has declared a federal lawmaker, Farah Dagogo, wanted for allegedly hiring thugs to attack the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt.
Mr Dagogo is a PDP governorship aspirant in Rivers.
“The police must as a matter of urgency arrest Farah Dagogo, wherever he is, and must be made to face prosecution,” Kelvin Ebiri, the spokesperson to Mr Wike, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mr Ebiri said Mr Dagogo hired cultists who stormed the party secretariat and disrupted the screening of aspirants.
He said the police had arrested some suspects in connection with the incident.
Mr Dagogo has, however, said that Mr Wike wants to prevent him from appearing before the PDP screening panel this Thursday.
The lawmaker’s response was contained in a statement posted on Facebook, Thursday, by his spokesperson, Ibrahim Lawal.
“That the directive for the arrest of Farah Dagogo by Governor Nyesom Wike violates the spirit of Section 14 and 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended),” the statement said.
Mr Dagogo said no incident took place at the party secretariat on Wednesday.
He accused Efeturi Irikefe, whom he described as the “Camp Commandment” to Mr Wike of trying to disrupt the screening by ordering police officers to shoot indiscriminately to scare supporters of aspirants who were outside the venue.
“This Camp Commandant, Efeturi Irikefe, dehumanized and arrested some PDP faithful who came to give moral support to the aspirants and forcefully arrested some of them and took them to Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt.”
Mr Dagogo promised to appear before the police after the governorship screening if invited.
He urged the commissioner of police in Rivers State to arrest and investigate Mr Irikefe’s activities on Wednesday at the party’s secretariat.
The police spokesperson in Rivers State, Grace Iringe-koko, did not respond to the request for comment from PREMIUM TIMES.
The Commissioner for Information in the state, Paulinus Nsirim, did not also respond to requests for comment.
Who is Mr Dagogo?
Mr Dagogo represents Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.
He previously served as a lawmaker representing Degema State Constituency in the Rivers House of Assembly before he was elected to the National Assembly in 2019.
Mr Dagogo was a field commander with one of the largest militant groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, before joining politics.
He was among the militants who surrendered their weapons and embraced the federal government amnesty programme in 2009.
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