‘Police Have Right To Detain Suspect’

A Port Harcourt based
lawyer Barr. Jackson Assor has said the police have the power to detain any person suspected of committing crime pending the investigation of the matter.
Barr. Assor, who was reaching to allegation that a certain police inspector took bribe to detain Kaari Ruler in Port Harcourt on Monday, noted that the detention of a suspect was one of the duties of the police.
The suspect so detained had the right to bail pending the prosecution of the matter in a court of law.
He explained that unless the allegation was that serious crime, which he said could hinder the suspects bail pending prosecution.
According to him, it is only when bail is refused over a minor crime that anybody could raise eyebrow. Bail is usually at the decretion of the judge, magistrate or police.
He condemned the publication in the independent Monitor of September 11, 2014 which made allegations that the police Inspector  took bribe to detain suspects.
“You cannot take bribe to do what is your power to do, he said  police were not acting anybody script, he further stated.
Also speaking, a member of the community, Mr Nwiyeghe Ngbo stated the report as published in the aforesaid newspaper was a blatant falsehood intended to misinform the public about the goings on in Kaani community.
He  said before the purported installation of  Chief in Teyor Kaani on the 9th of August, 2014, the incumbent paramount ruler Chief Jimmy B. Ngbo had petitioned the Rivers State Commissioner of police over the development.
He expressed surprise that the suspected criminals were the ones crying foul and imploring human rights groups to help them.
To buttress the criminality of some the suspects, Mr Ngbo said the same Elder Saturday Ndinee and others were standing trial in Bori Magistrate Court and urged all to dismiss the publication as untrue.

Chidi Enyie