BY LUKA BINNIYAT
Kaduna State Police Commissioner (CP), Mr Olufemi Adanaike, Saturday, subjected Senator Ahmed Rufai Sani, former governor of Zamfara State, to almost three-hour questioning over a comment he made during a live programme on Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) in which he said that should the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC) was not registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), leaders of APC would stage peaceful demonstration similar to that organised in Cairo’s Tahir Square, Egypt.
Yerima was escorted to the commissioner’s office by four vehicles of Operation Yaki around 1:10pm and left after writing a statement around 4pm.
Kaduna police boss later expressed disappointment with journalists’ interest on the issue, saying the incident was blown out of proportion.
Said Adenaike:”Let me start by saying that I am seriously disappointed at journalists, in the sense that you are blowing nothing out of proportion
“If you put yourself in my shoes – you are the commissioner of police of a state, and you start getting calls from concerned citizens of the state that somebody has made an inciting statement on the radio, will you go to burukutu (local brew) joint and start drinking? You have to make a move.
“All I did was to go to the radio house. And I met the distinguished senator and I said, ‘Please, I want to know what you said’. He said, ‘no problem, let me finish’. And I will come with you to your office.
This is what has transpired. And I am surprised that people are saying many things: ‘CP has arrested him’. Or that CP has orders from Abuja’”.
“ The distinguished senator is not under arrest. All we did was to find out what he said. And he said they were going to go on a peaceful demonstration. And I said, define what you mean by peaceful demonstration, considering that Kaduna is a volatile state. I don’t what anything to happen in my domain.
“I am completely satisfied with what he has said. And he is free to go. There was no directive from anywhere. We were doing things on our own”.
On his part, Yerima explained what transpired while fielding questions from journalists after leaving the CP office.
This tallied with his written statement made available to Sunday Vanguard in Kaduna.
“I was invited by the police commissioner after the radio programme. He wanted us to go together , but maybe seeing the large crowd, he said I should come and see him.
“I didn’t sense anything because I knew what I said. He has taken the recorded CD of the interview. I said if there is any attempt by anybody in any quarter to prevent APC from being registered, we can go as far as staging peaceful protest at the Eagle Square Abuja. We will stay there 24 hours through out the days until our demands is granted, that is all I said”.
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