Crime
Rivers police arrest pastor, as signage agency seals church over electrocution
Men of the Rivers state police command have arrested the assistant pastor of the church that owns a billboard linked to the electrocution that killed five people in the Rumuosi area of Obiri-Kwere in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state had been arrested.
Spokesperson to the Rivers state police command Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed that police had picked the assistant pastor of the church.
Iringe-Koko said investigation into the incident was still going on, adding that the arrested person would assist the police in the process.
Chronicle NG had earlier reported nine people were electrocuted on Monday when a metal billboard they were installing for the new-generation church touched a high-tension cable.
Five of them died on the spot while the four others were rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for treatment.
Iringe-Koko said, “Yes, I can confirm that the assistant pastor of the Church has been arrested.
“He is in the custody of the China Police Division as we speak. An investigation is still ongoing.”
Also, officials of the Rivers State Signage and Advertising Agency, on Tuesday, sealed the church.
The billboard stand, remaining at the scene of the electrocution along the Obiri-Kwere stretch of the East-West Road, was also shut up, and the two places had been marked off with tape.
Dr. Anthony Okeah, the Managing Director of the RSAA, said that no authorisation had been given for the erection of the billboard.
Without the agency’s consent, he issued a warning to anyone using such outdoor advertising, stating that defaulters would face consequences.
“If you must practise advertisement, you must go the right way. You must be certified and you must abide by the rules and regulations of the signage agency,” he said.
