RiversRerun- Police to retrieve Govenor Wike’s call activities from telecom company

Following an audio clip recording widely alleged to be that of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on comments pertaining to the just concluded legislative rerun elections held on December 10 and the subsequent setting up of a police team to ascertain the authenticity of the voice by the Inspector General of Police IGP Ibrahim Idris , Indications emerged Monday morning that the team, will this week write telecommunication firms for the call data of the governor.

The team will demand details of Wike’s calls before, during and shortly after the election.

According to a report by The Punch, a senior police source said the detectives would carry out forensic analysis on the governor’s incoming and outgoing telephone calls, including the name of the callers, the numbers dialled, the time, date and duration of the calls, as well as SMS.

“Obtaining the CDR shouldn’t pose any difficulty to the investigators because the telecom firms have it on their exchange. ‘‘Forensic analysis of the audio tapes would be matched with the call logs, which will also assist in identifying the voice prints of the suspects,” a source said.

Further findings indicated that the leaked audio of the telephone calls would be matched against the governor’s voice print to determine if he was involved in the alleged communication, allegedly meant to rig the poll.

The voice print is a set of measurable characteristics of a human voice that uniquely identifies an individual.

The IG had, on Saturday, announced the setting up of a team of detectives to conduct forensic analysis on the audio of a telephone call, purportedly made by Wike in respect of the concluded rerun elections.

The team was also mandated to conduct a thorough investigation into a statement credited to the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmud, in which he said 70 infractions were committed during the December 10, 2016, rerun polls in Rivers State.

The IG said the team would unravel those who were directly or indirectly responsible for such incidents and bring them to justice.

The investigative team, which is headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, has 30 days to complete the investigation and submit its report, which the Force spokesman, Donald Awunah, said would be made public.

Recall that last week, an audio clip of telephone calls allegedly made by Wike, in which he allegedly instructed some electoral officials on how to rig the election went viral.

In another audio, a voice was heard threatening to kill some electoral officials if they failed to carry out the directives for which they were bribed.