The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka has ordered the arrest of police officers on duty during the cell break at Okrika Police Division in Okirika Local Government Area of Rivers State in the early hours of last Tuesday.
In a statement, the spokesperson of the command, DSP Grace Iringe-koko, said Eboka has ordered DC SCID, Patrick Longe, to take the lead in the investigation, and expedite action in the course of the investigation in other to unravel the triggers of the incident.
A police officer, who does not want his name to be mentioned, said the hoodlums broke into the Okrika Police Division detention room at about 2am, and freed all arrested detainees in the cell on that day.
According to him, the hoodlums broke the padlock of the cell, and also opened the back door of the cell from where the detainees escaped, adding that more than 10 suspects in the cell and some notorious criminals who were under detention, escaped.
In a related development, the Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of OSPAC member who allegedly killed an Air Force rating at Omuanwa community in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, last Wednesday
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday, said investigation on the matter was ongoing.
Iringe-Koko gave the name of the arrested OSPAC personnel as Progress Amecheta, who allegedly shoot and killed the Air Force rating at Omuanwa, adding he was being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Port Harcourt.
A source in the community said trouble started, last Monday when OSPAC members were harassing some suspected cultists in the community, forcing them to renounce their membership through administering of traditional oath on them.
It was gathered that on Tuesday, the late Air Force rating, Eugene Ikasike, accompanied by his colleague, went to the OSPAC office to release his brother who was arrested by the vigilante and detained but was assaulted and rebuffed by the OSPAC officers who said that they don’t recognise Federal Government security operatives.
It was further learnt that the deceased Air Force officer, later mobilised his colleagues and went to the OSPAC operative’s house where a heated argument ensued that led Amecheta to pull his rifle and shot the late Air Force personnel.
When The Tide visited the community, the two houses, one belonging to the father of OSPAC member and another belonging to a stakeholder In Omuanwa community, had been razed by suspected military personnel.
There was also a high level of apprehension and uncertainty in the community, as many openly expressed fears that the Air Force personnel may launch a reprisal attack on the community.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Community Development Committee (CDC) in Omuanwa, Ugho Chiang, who also confirmed the incident, and described the killing as bad omen, and condemnable.
“OSPAC personnel allegedly responsible for the killing of Air Force personnel in the community has been apprehended and handed over to the Isiokpo Police Area Command in the LGA. That is what we have achieved because we have been working together to ensure his arrest. There is relative peace in the community.
“We have actually lost a hard and dutiful youth, an agent of the Federal Government. It is very unforgettable and unfortunate incident. He is gone; there is no how we can have his own side of the story.”
He advised youths in the area to be civil and shun any act that would jeopardise their life and that of the community, saying that all the eight villages in the community contributed to fund OSPAC.
“If you are a cultist in the area, denounce it; that is my own advise, and that should not have warranted any killing,” he stated.

By: Akujobi Amadi