The Nigeria police have asked Drew Povey, the Briton wanted on charges of terrorism, to come out of his hiding and surrender to the police.
Denying Povey’s allegation that the police didn’t send him any invitation before declaring him wanted, the police also ruled out the possibility of interrogating Mr Povey on Zoom as requested by him.
The police had yesterday (Monday, September 1) declared Wynne and his Nigerian collaborator, Lucky Obinyan, wanted for allegedly plotting to overthrow the administration of President Bola and placed a N10m bounty on each of their heads for anyone with information that could lead to their arrest.
Povey had on Monday, in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said he was not aware that he had been labelled a fugitive.
But at a media briefing in Abuja, Force Public Relations Officer OluMuyiwa Adejobi, told journalists that the police made several contacts with the Briton , but he refused to show up even after his workshop was invaded.
“He (Wynne) has been contacted several times. He has been so faceless. We went to invade that bookshop. As he asked questions, he came out. If you have a genuine business, are you not going to ask the police what we went to do in his shop or his office?: Adejobi quipped
“Up till now, he has not shown up. We have been able to trace his private school. We visited his school; has he shown up? We have interrogated staff and people working with him. Has he shown up? So where is he and why is he hiding and speaking from hiding that he has no case to answer?
“As I said, it is not a subject of debate or argument. We have done what we should as a responsible security institution.”
The PPRO, while disclosing that some offences had been established against Povey, and that one of his accomplices had been arraigned in court, dared the Briton to come out of hiding and face the wrath of the law like his accomplices.
“We have established an offence or offences against him, and we have even declared him wanted. His accomplices have been charged in court.
“Let him come out. At least those people worked for him. As a good leader, as a businessman, as a smart man who mobilised and organised sleeper cells to cause problems in Nigeria, he should have come out as a good leader. So let him prove to his followers that he is a good leader. Let him come and meet us.”
Answering journalists’ questions on why the Zoom interrogation suggested by Povey would not be accepted by the police based on the gravity of the allegations preferred against him, Adejobi said: “We have questions to ask him. This is a guy who has been travelling out of Nigeria frequently. Why is it difficult for him to come down? Who is going to take a Zoom meeting for a suspect in this kind of offence? No.
“Let him come. I am still calling him again. Let him come. Suppose he’s a good man. If he is a genuine businessman in Nigeria, let Andrew Wynne report to the police so that he can come and clear some grey areas.”
