The Rivers State Government stated it has uncovered the suspect who detonated an explosive device near the state-owned Presidential Hotel during a pro-police protest in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
This came less than 24 hours after the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, alerted management of both public and private medical facilities in the state on the identity of the suspect, the injury signs, and the need to detain him if found.
A substance believed to be dynamite went off near the Presidential Hotel axis of the Aba expressway causing fright in the area.
Oreh while speaking on tuesday said “Now the Rivers State Ministry of Health is calling for an alert to all medical facilities in the state, both public and privately owned facilities to be vigilant and look out for an individual, a young man with a traumatically dismembered upper limb because this injury which was sustained will require medical attention.
“If such an individual and their accomplices are present in any of the facilities, immediately notify the Commissioner for Police, Rivers State and the Rivers State Ministry of Health.”
However, later at night Oreh told newsmen that the yet-to-be-identified suspected bomber, was rushed to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital for treatment by his friends who are now at large.
She explained that those who brought the man to the facility claimed that he was involved in a road accident when he arrived at the hospital.
The commissioner stated, “Following that call, our medical facilities in the state were on a heightened sense of alert and so when a young man was brought to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital with alleged injury sustained during what was said to be a road traffic accident the medical personnel that were on hand to examine him and offer care were on alert.
“And immediately recognised that the injuries seen on this individual were not in tandem with a road traffic accident, but rather resemble injuries that would have come from an explosion.
“The individual was taken in for immediate resuscitation because as of the time he was brought in he was semi-conscious.
“The medical personnel did the needful and immediately informed the Rivers State Government. Immediately informed the Commissioner for Police and the Rivers State Ministry of Health about the presence of that individual in the facility even when providing emergency medical care to revive and resuscitate him.”
The commissioner, however, disclosed that the suspect is now stable after receiving medical attention at the facility, saying, “We are working with the Rivers State Police Command and so the Hospital has been fully secured, the premises and the perimeter have been fully secured.
“The patient is undergoing medical treatment. He is stable and the police are doing their part in carrying out the necessary investigations.
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