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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State-born political management consultant of Ogoni extraction, Joe Korka-Waadah, has condemned the attack on an Arise TV news crew and a guest, former commissioner Leloonu Nwibubasa, in Port Harcourt, as an attack on the Ogoni ethnic nationality.
Korka-Waadah, Executive Director of the Canada-based Compassionate Heart Foundation, also accused the Rivers Police of shielding the culprits of the attack, who reportedly carried out the operation at a hotel in the Orazi area of Port Harcourt on Friday.
Korka-Waadah noted that the Rivers State Police Command, through its Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Grace Iringe-Koko, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), confirmed that unidentified armed youths attacked the Arise TV crew during a live interview with Nwibubasa, former Rivers Commissioner for Employment Generation and Empowerment.
Korka-Waadah also noted that Arise News reporter Mr Andy Omano, who led the crew, had narrated: “I called the police and some of my colleagues. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area arrived with his men.”
“The PPRO, CSP Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed: ‘Police timely intervention averted the attack. Police have recovered all items collected from the journalists, including camera and other items. They are safe now.’”
Reacting to the development, Korka-Waadah told journalists: “It is unfortunate that in our dear Rivers State, thugs and hoodlums can be deployed with impunity to harm or possibly terminate the life of a citizen merely for expressing an opinion which he is entitled to.
“That ugly incident is a signal of what to expect going into elections of 2027. Let it be known to these anti-democratic forces that Ogoni has suffered a lot in the hands of the Nigerian government. Four of our elders and statesmen were murdered in the same fashion.
“That culminated to trumped-up charges that led to the brutal murder of our leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and nine others in 1995. Today is Ogoni Day and same forces went after another Ogoni son.
“That wasn’t a mere attack on the person of Dr Leloonu Nwibubasa. As a prominent son of Ogoni, it was an attack on the Ogoni people. We will not sit down and allow any of us to either be intimidated or killed while the world watches. Never again, never again. Enough is enough.
“We are also worried how the Police rose to the occasion, rescued the targets of the attack, recovered seized equipment and declared them safe without making a single arrest. That’s aiding and abetting criminality for an incident that does not suggest the attackers were faceless.”
