Governor sets up panel to probe Rivers’ killings

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has inaugurated a nine-man commission of inquiry to investigate the recent killings which took place in the state during the recently concluded general elections.

The governor revealed this on Thursday, April 16, 2015, while inaugurating the commission at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

“When I visited Obirikom in the Ogba/Egbeme/Ndoni Local Government Area, in the household of the late Chief Christopher Adube, nine persons were killed by assassins,” Amaechi said.

“There was a day I was arguing with the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State who is now in Enugu and I said, ‘commissioner, I was told 11 persons have been killed’, he said, ‘no, only seven persons,” he added.

“Again, in the same Omoku, whether it is seven or 11 persons, these are human lives. At Okrika, when APC went on campaign, where the governorship candidate was seated, he would have been hit by a bullet, but God saved him; he had left that place earlier. That was the first day the APC went for campaigns in Okirika, and the police were present,” the governor said.

The panel will be headed by the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu.

Other members are Sir Samuel Egbe, Professor Nlerum Okogbule, Professor Owunari Georgewill, Dr Richard Ofuru, Mrs. Asivosuo Oriye, Dr Joy Ejiofor, Mrs Ayo Obe, and Rev. Father Michael Akiri.