The Rivers State Police Command has said its operatives were not involved in any shooting as being widely reported.
Powerofnaija reports that viral video clips currently making the rounds, captured some moments when security officers shot sporadically during a protest.
Ijaw youths had stormed the Port Harcourt City Council secretariat to protest against the tenure elongation by the Local Government Chairmen who were expected to vacate their offices on Monday.
One of the leaders of the Port Harcourt City youths, identified simply as Ichemanti alleged that one of the protesting youths was shot at by the police during the sporadic shootings.
But when contacted by powerofnaija, the Rivers Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko denied the allegation, saying the police were on ground to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order.
She said, “If you can see clearly in that video, there is no policeman shooting there. You can see them peacefully moving around there because they are there to forestall the breakdown of law and order. So there is no shooting.
Let’s stop circulating false stories. That you heard gunshots doesn’t mean the police are shooting. If there was any shooting, you would have seen casualties”.
Asked what could be the identity of those shootings, the PPRO said, “You were not there and I was not there but you can trust me when I say the policemen deployed to the area were not shooting”.
