#EndSARS: We’ll Pay IPOB Victims’ Families N20m Each -Wike

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has announced N20million compensation to the families of each of the soldiers and policemen killed by members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Oyigbo, last week.
In addition, the governor also promised to rebuild all burnt police stations in Oyigbo, and vowed to ensure that the terrorist organisation no longer exists in Rivers State.
Wike stated this during a condolence visit to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, and families of the slain policemen at the Rivers State Police Command, last Wednesday.
The governor, who was accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo; the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim; and the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Prof Zacchaeus Adangor, described the gruesome murder of the policemen and soldiers as unacceptable and unfortunate.
He stressed that the state government would support the police to make sure that all IPOB members who masterminded the killing of the policemen and soldiers, as well as the wanton destruction of police stations and other critical infrastructure in Oyigbo were apprehended to face the full wrath of the law.
“IPOB masterminded the killing of our gallant officers of the Nigerian Police and Army. We want to state clearly that Rivers State Government will support you to make sure that any of the perpetrators of this hideous crime does not go free. Enough is enough. You cannot continue to kill our policemen who have not done anything; who have not committed any crime”, he said.
Emotionally stricken by the presence of the grieving wives and children of the killed policemen, Wike, vowed to ensure that IPOB would no longer exist in any part of Rivers State.
According to him, the killing of policemen was one crime that the state government would never condone.
The governor announced that the state government has decided to pay the sum of N20million to each of the families of those killed by IPOB members in Oyigbo.
He further assured Mukan that the state government would rebuild all the police stations torched by IPOB, and provide necessary support to policemen whose residences were vandalised and rendered homeless.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, said the governor, by his decision to commiserate with the command and the deceased families, has demonstrated he was a compassionate father of the state.
Mukan explained that the police and the Army have taken over all IPOB strongholds in Oyigbo, and would ensure that the group ceases to exist anywhere within the state.
The police commissioner maintained that the command would not abdicate its responsibility by ensuring that IPOB, which had been declared a terrorist group by the Federal Government in 2017, did not continue to use Rivers State as launch pad for its terrorist attacks.
Mukan also said that the police have declared war against members of IPOB, and moved to arrest and prosecute supporters of the group in the state.
Speaking during a meeting with DPOs/HODs of the Tactical Units in the command, yesterday, Mukan, gave the heads of the units marching order to, within the next 48hours, deploy both intelligence and patrols across the command to ensure that the items looted by hoodlums were recovered and perpetrators arrested with immediate effect.
The Public Relations Officer of the state command, SP. Nnamdi Omoni, who disclosed the position of the commissioner in a statement, said Mukan further tasked members of IPOB to leave the state or face arrest and prosecution.
Omoni said: “The CP. Joseph Mukan has declared total war against the miscreants who attacked and looted police stations in Oyigbo LGA.
“The CP further warned members of the proscribed Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB) to relocate from the state as machineries have been put in place to fish them out and deal with them as a terrorist group.
“Again the CP for the umpteenth time wishes to reiterate emphatically that Rivers State is not an IPOB state and will deal decisively with any group that carries out activities under that guise or any guise whatsoever”.
“IPOB has been outlawed by both the federal and state governments and to that extent is non-existent anywhere else, including Rivers State. Hence parents and guardians should warn their children/wards to be law-abiding or else bear the full weight of the law.”
He, however, tasked the public to increase their security consciousness and report any suspicious character or the whereabouts of any of the looted property to the nearest police station.