The Police team, currently investigating some emerging
issues during the rerun elections in Rivers State on December 10, will
this week write telecommunication firms for the call data of Governor
Nyesom Wike.
Wike, in alleged telephone
calls before the rerun polls in the state, instructed some electoral
officials and other aides to rig the election.
An audio clip,
alleged to be the recording of such conversation, has since been
released, where a voice, said to belong to Wike, issued various
directives, including a death threat.
It was gathered in
Abuja that the investigation team, set up by the Inspector-General of
Police, Ibrahim Idris, would demand the details of Wike’s calls before,
during and shortly after the election.
A senior police source
said the detectives would carry out forensic analysis on the governor’s
incoming and outgoing telephone calls, including the name of the
callers, the numbers dialed, the time, date and duration of the calls,
as well as SMS.
“Obtaining the CDR shouldn’t pose any difficulty
to the investigators because the telecom firms have it on their
exchange. ‘‘Forensic analysis of the audio tapes would be matched with
the call logs, which will also assist in identifying the voice prints of
the suspects,” a source said.
Further findings indicated that
the leaked audio of the telephone calls would be matched against the
governor’s voice print to determine if he was involved in the alleged
communication, allegedly meant to rig the poll.
The voice print is a set of measurable characteristics of a human voice that uniquely identifies an individual.
The
IG had, on Saturday, announced the setting up of a team of detectives
to conduct forensic analysis on the audio of a telephone call,
purportedly made by Wike in respect of the concluded rerun elections.
The
team was also mandated to conduct a thorough investigation into a
statement credited to the Chairman, Independent National Electoral
Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmud, in which he said 70 infractions were
committed during the December 10, 2016, rerun polls in Rivers State.
The
IG said the team would unravel those who were directly or indirectly
responsible for such incidents and bring them to justice.
The
investigative team, which is headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police,
has 30 days to complete the investigation and submit its report, which
the Force spokesman, Donald Awunah, said would be made public.
An
online medium, SaharaReporters had posted an audio clip of telephone
calls allegedly made by Wike, in which he allegedly instructed some
electoral officials on how to rig the election.
In another audio,
a voice was heard threatening to kill some electoral officials if they
failed to carry out the directives for which they were bribed.
Meanwhile,
Wike, however, said on Sunday that his administration and people of the
state would not be a party to the police probe of the December 10 rerun
elections, describing such investigation as phony.
The Rivers
State governor, who spoke at a victory thanksgiving mass of the Peoples
Democratic Party at Our Lady Chaplaincy of Catholic Institute of West
Africa in Port Harcourt, said the probe into the rerun elections had a
predetermined goal to indict the PDP and commence a
politically-motivated prosecution of some members.
“The police cannot deliberately murder Rivers people in cold blood and turn around to investigate.
“We
are not a party to their so-called panel. We have passed that stage and
we cannot fall into the trap of a panel of inquiry. After killing our
people, you want us to assist you to unravel what? It is the police that
killed our people,” he added.
The governor wondered why the
police would claim it wanted to investigate issues surrounding the
Rivers rerun elections, claiming that the police were involved in the
attempt to subvert the will of the people.
He accused the Police
High Command of refusing to prosecute the APC chieftains allegedly
caught on camera printing fake result sheets ahead of the elections.
Wike
added that petitions to the Police High Command on the negative
activities of an Assistant Commissioner of Police and a police commander
in the state were disregarded.
The governor added, “If it is a
country that believes in its image, so many people would have lost their
jobs. They cannot ask themselves why 28,000 policemen, yet to be
ascertained number of soldiers, police dogs and horses, gunboats and
helicopters could not police ordinary legislative elections.
“It
is because the police were the ones committing the fraud, violence and
election-materials snatching. We are accusing the police of mass murder
and they turn around to set up a panel of inquiry.
“After killing
our people, you fraudulently set up a panel of inquiry. Up till now,
they don’t know that we are far ahead. This panel is a mere booby trap
to indict the PDP members. If they cared about lives, they wouldn’t do
what they did.”
In his sermon, Reverend Monsignor Pius Kii said that the coalition of forces would never defeat Rivers State.
The
thanksgiving service was attended by the PDP leaders, senators, House
of Representatives members, House of Assembly members and local
government caretaker committee chairmen.
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