The Police Command in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, said it is only interested in the petition filed against four contestants in the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, election in the nation’s capital.
Contrary to reports making the rounds that the police are against some of the constants, the command declared that its interest was to investigate an allegation of forgery levelled against the contestants.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, SP Josephine Adeh, said in a statement on Thursday that the clarification was necessary following erroneous recent viral social media posts that the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, has a special interest in the election.
Adeh said the claims were false, explaining that the command, on November 25, received a formal petition written by Emeka Nze, Victorson Agbenson and Johnchuks Onuanyim against the contestants.
She said the petitioners accused Miss Grace Ike, Yahaya Ndambabo, Miss Edeh Ogechukwu and Jide Adeyemi of presenting forged postgraduate diploma certificates to run for the election.
Adeh said the petition revealed that the certificates were purportedly not issued by the International Institute of Journalism.
“The petition highlighted specific discrepancies in the certificates presented by the accused individuals.
“The command stresses that its involvement is strictly limited to investigating the allegations of forgery received via the written petition.
“As part of the investigation, the command invited the individuals named in the petition for questioning to verify the allegations,” she said.
Adeh said the invitation was in line with the duty of the police to uphold the rule of law, maintain order and safeguard democratic processes.
