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Senate Begins Investigation Into Alleged Shooting During Rivers Rally

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Police, Igwe Nwagwu, told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that it had begun investigation into the alleged shooting of a serving Senator, Magnus Abe, at a rally in Port Harcourt on January 12.



Nwagwu said that the committee would submit it findings to the National Assembly for deliberation as soon as it concludes its investigation, adding that it was in Rivers State on a fact-finding assignment.

“We are here in Rivers State to carry out fact-finding on the incident that happened last Sunday where it was alleged that the police shot tear gas and rubber bullets, which incidentally, also affected Senator Magnus Abe. We have not concluded our investigation yet,’ he said.




     

     

    Meanwhile, the chief of staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Tony Okocha, told the committee that the police allegedly used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse  a crowd that gathered to hold the rally.

    The Rivers State police commissioner, Joseph Mbu,  had said the the gathering was dispersed because organisers did not get a permit from the Police before embarking on a rally.

    But Okocha said the Save Rivers Movement, an NGO, had applied for police permission to hold a sensitisation rally at the premises of the state College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt, on January 12.

    He said when he got to the venue, there was heavy police presence and that the police allegedly fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, insisting that the rubber bullet hit him on the left leg and also hit Abe, who was rushed to the hospital and later flown abroad for further treatment.

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