…Debunk PTD-NUPENG Members’ Claim

The Rivers State Police Command has debunked in its entirety, a media report from the PTD-NUPENG members in the state who alleged that the Commissioner of Police did not allow them to extort money from petroleum tankers’ drivers and added that such allegations were frivolous and should be discarded
A statement by the police spokesperson in the State, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, however, explained that the report as peddled by the group was not correct as it was not the true position of what transpired during the meeting called by CP Friday Eboka and members of the union to end the week-long strike which was the reason for the fuel scarcity witnessed in the state recently.
“The attention of the Rivers State Police Command has been drawn to a protest by some disgruntled elements on Saturday, September 17, 2022 along UTC Junction to Government House, Port Harcourt, who alleged that the Commissioner of Police did not allow them to extort money from petroleum tankers’ drivers. “
“The command would have ignored them, considering the fact that most people captured on camera on that day were hired urchins.
However, the need to save the good people of Rivers State from being fed with wrong information has necessitated this response.”
“Residents of Port Harcourt and its environs will easily recall that for about a week preceding the day of the protest, PTD-NUPENG embarked on a strike action as a result of which the people of Rivers State suffered untold hardship due to the resultant fuel scarcity. The Commissioner of Police as a way of expressing his love for residents of the State convened a meeting of all stakeholders on 16/9/2022. At the end of the deliberation which lasted over six hours, a communiqué was issued and NUPENG called off the strike action. Everyone in the state was of course happy.”
Surprisingly, as the PTD-NUPENG tanker drivers started loading, a group of disgruntled elements who perhaps were happy that there was scarcity in the town, blocked them from distributing petroleum products, insisting on collecting tolls from them. Irked that the agreement which took hours to attain was about to be scuttled, the Police moved in to allow the tanker drivers do their work. The next day, this group who called themselves IPMAN, hired some urchins to disturb the peace of Port Harcourt”.

By: Amadi Akujobi