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Communal crisis: Detained Ogoni chief, others moved to Calabar
Soni Daniel, Port Harcourt
A royal father in Ogoni has been arrested and moved to the police zonal headquarters in Calabar in connection with the destruction of Kaani Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Also picked along with the royal father (names withheld) on Wednesday morning, were a school principal and three prominent natives of Kaani One Community, accused of masterminding the massive destruction of Kaani Two Community on May 8, 2004.
Our correspondent gathered that the arrest of the masterminds of the destruction was ordered by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who was under pressure from Ogoni natives in the United States of America to wade into the destruction of the community.
It was gathered that the Ogoni Community in the US had on May 14, 2004 petitioned the United Nations and the Presidency, claiming that the community was on the verge of being wiped out by those opposed to the natives.
Apart from that, the natives were said to have appealed to the international community to bring the perpetrators of what they described as genocide in Kaani to book in the interest of justice.
It was gathered that The Presidency was forced to direct police authorities to comb the Ogoni Community and fish out those who engineered the crisis in the area.
A senior police officer confirmed to our correspondent on Thursday that the five suspects were picked up from their different houses after they ignored police invitation to make themselves available for investigation.
The arrest of the five persons considered as the major players in the crisis, followed an on-the-spot inspection of the scene of the crisis by a special team of police detectives raised by the IG and sent to Rivers State.
The team had been working quietly in the state and visited the crisis-torn community again on May 30, during which it returned with a list of 21 suspects.
The lawyer representing the accused person was also picked up by the team when he failed to produce the remaining suspects, said to be on the run.
The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Sylvester Araba, confirmed in a telephone interview that the special team raised by the police high command to look into the matter had made some arrests but did not say where those arrested were being kept.
The PUNCH, July 02, 2004
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