19/04/2024
Let me speak.
If only people know how Ichemati got involved in this. What dampens my spirit the most is how his/our involvement in this came about. It was purely because of SELFLESSNESS and the desire to stand up for others.
We just finished eating at Kilimanjaro restaurant at Shoprite Mall behind Wadata Plaza and we were about to leave. He wanted to ease himself and requested for the direction of the convenience which they told him it was at the other end of the mall. On his way to the toilet, he stumbled on a scene he couldn’t just ignore. He saw a group of armed men that looked like the defunct SARS, some had masks on, surrounding someone he recognised. Alongside the Armed men was a Local Government Chairman which Eze had recognised too. It turned out the person they had ambushed and were planning to whisk away was the Assembly Member Representing Ahoada West in the Rivers State House of Assembly Sokari Goodboy Sokari.
Eze Ichemati brought out his phone in a bid to raise awareness and also called out to a couple of us to come and see the plot that was happening. That was when the said chairman pointed at him to the police that he should be arrested after he had tried unsuccessfully to take his phone. The Chairman also pointed at me that I should arrested too stating that I was videoing.
An argument ensued at the premises of the Plaza as the masked armed men tried to effect the Chairman’s order however, there were two senior police officers there who were not part of the squad that came for the operation. They intervened and decided to hear our side of the story. They immediately understood what was happening and started apologising to us.
The Female officer there told us that they were told that some people were here with arms but that she can see us and confirm that we weren’t bearing any arms. She went further and told us to be calm. She also retrieved the phone those masked men had seized from one of us (Bidemi) and returned it to us.
The other senior police officer cautioned one of the squad member that was still being aggressive. In his words “You are a police officer, you can see a CSP here and you can’t respect her? Remember you are a police officer and not a politician, allow politics for politicians”
The Rogue squad mission became largely unsuccessful and the Chairman of Ikwerre LGA stormed out angrily after shouting at the squad members saying “ So Una no go do wehtin Oga tell una?
After all that, we were asked to leave the mall premises which we did. However we were concerned that these men would continue with their sinister plans so some of us went on Facebook Live so ask keep evidence incase of any harassment. We decided to stand at an open space where everyone could see us and also do our best to raise awareness. After a couple of minutes, those black on black “SARS” lookalike squad regrouped in front, drove their van in reverse to were we stood, pointed their guns at Sokari and Ichemati and forcefully pushed them in their van and zoomed off.
A couple of minutes later, they came back again with a White bus, trying to trail the remaining of us for yet another possible arrest.
It’s good to state that our presence at Wadata was for the sake of gathering first hand updates of activities there and also cover the Governor and his supporters.
I have many tales to tell from the events of yesterday.
We must speak else we allow tyranny reign supreme.
