All that the Niger Delta Congress (NDC) did was call for a peaceful demonstration against the state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.
This was how the police responded to the call for a peaceful protest: they arrested Nubari Saatah, the NDC president in Rivers, on Tuesday and invited Mudiaga Ogboru, the national spokesperson, to appear at one of their stations in Lagos.
In a statement issued by the group on Sunday, they condemned the state of emergency and the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and the state legislature. NDC is a socio-political group established in Port Harcourt in 2019 to help promote the political and economic autonomy of the Niger Delta region.
Gists9ja learnt that the police arrested Saatah on Tuesday evening and were holding him at the Octopus division in Diobu, Port Harcourt.
The NDC statement reads in part, “By suspending two branches of government and imposing a military caretaker, the federal government has made it clear that political rivalries can supersede democratic principles. We demand that President Tinubu immediately reverse this decision, reinstate Governor Fubara and the elected assembly, and commit to dialogue over diktat. To this end, we call on our people to take to the streets in a peaceful protest against indirect and undemocratic rule in Rivers State.”
While confirming the arrest to FIJ on Wednesday, the NDC’s national spokesperson said he got a call from Rivers State Police on Tuesday, asking him to report to the division in Port Harcourt. This was after he had received a letter from the State Intelligence Department in Lagos, inviting him to appear at the SID office in Ikeja on or before 11:00 am on Tuesday.
“I told them that I was not in Rivers State but in Lagos. I also told them that the president was in Rivers. The reason for the invite was a statement on Sunday and a radio interview aired on Monday calling for a protest against this state of emergency in the state,” Ogboru disclosed.
“I told the police officer that there was no need for me to attend the invite in Lagos since I was planning to be in Rivers, and he said it was fine. It was this morning that I got to know that the president had been apprehended and was still in detention.
“Because the NDC is a peaceful organisation, we were even ready to honour their invitation and dialogue with them.”
Ogboru also disclosed that the national president was arrested alongside another NDC member, who was later released that same day. The arrest was made by operatives of the Octopus Squad, a unit of the police force.
He said he still spoke with Saatah on Tuesday morning, only for the police to arrest him by evening. He said none of them have been able to reach the president since his arrest.
“What the police are doing is unconstitutional. We were very clear that the protest would be peaceful, so I don’t know why the police are doing this,” Ogboru said.
“After learning of the arrest, I called the police officer who called me earlier. He said he was not aware of any arrest. It was later that we got to know that the Octopus Squad of the police arrested him.”
Amayie King, the founding chairman of the congress, also told FIJ that the police used another member who was arrested to get the detained national president.
“He is like a PA to the president. The police felt that if they got to him, they would definitely get to the president. He was released immediately after they arrested the president,” King said.
King, who is also the coordinator of the Throw it Back (TIB) movement, a community of human rights defenders, said Saatah was arrested around 5:30 pm.
“I spoke with the commissioner of police this morning, and he said it’s just an invitation. He claimed that they wanted to talk to the president. They are just trying to shut down people’s voices by all means,” King told FIJ.
Gists9ja understands that if the police force does not release the NDC president by the end of Wednesday, the protest they are trying to avert in Rivers could happen.
Grace Iringe-Koko, the police spokesperson in Rivers, could not be reached for comments. When FIJ dialled her number around 11:20 am on Wednesday, a lady who identified as her personal assistant told our reporter that she was in a meeting.
“You are speaking with her PA. She is in a meeting. You may need to drop a message for her,” said the lady.
