THE BRITISH citizen, and owner of Iva Valley Bookshop which was on August 7, 2024 raided by police at the Labour House, Abuja, Drew Povey, recently declared wanted by the Nigeria Police Force over alleged treason, destabilisation of the country, and intimidation of the President, amongst other charges, on Tuesday said the claims by the police against him were lies.
The police accuse Povey of building a network of sleeper cells to “topple the government and plunge the nation into chaos”. They also allege that there exist “Documentary evidence and confessions revealed that Wynne issued directives, monitored progress and provided finance and operational guidance to achieve unconstitutional regime change in Nigeria”.
The police also accuse Povey of deploying several billions of naira to his alleged collaborators, urging them to mobilise the public to violently storm police facilities and military barracks, anticipating a bloodbath that would instigate international condemnation of the Nigerian government, adding that he fled the country and as a result they Interpol have been alerted.
Povey, on Tuesday, responded to the police claims, via a WhatsApp message to National Record stating: “The Police have made many lies about me, for example:
“1. I travelled internationally 13 times in two months
“2. I used the name Andrew Povich – this is just to prove the Russian link
“3. That the police tried to contact me – I have asked the Police for the numbers and dates
“4. That I ran, I booked the flight in early May and left as planned on 4 August
“5. That I paid people to join the protests
“6. That the book “Revolution is the Choice of the People” was for sale for N200 – it was in our reference section
“Obviously that I paid billions for a “network of sleeper cells” is a lie.
“They blocked 32 accounts 10 days or so ago so should be able to provide transaction details”
