Man Arrested For Allegedly Attempting To Plant Ammunition To Incriminate Kogi Governorship Candidate
A 28-year-old man allegedly attempting to plant ammunition on the campaign team of the Kogi State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, has been reportedly arrested.
The suspect was reportedly arrested by security personnel on Sunday, at about 4 pm at Goshen Hotel, Ganaja, Lokoja, the state capital, while supporters were waiting to receive Ajaka who was returning from a campaign event in the Kogi East senatorial district.
The Director of Communications of the Muritala Yakubu Ajaka Campaign Organization, Faruk Adejoh-Audu, in a statement issued on Sunday night, identified the suspect as Jerry Isaac.
Adejoh-Audu said that the suspect, who hails from the Bassa council area of the state, was arrested with two cartons of bullet cartridges hidden on crates of soft drinks in a tricycle otherwise known as Keke NAPEP.
According to him, the suspect pretended to be a delivery man making supplies to the hotel.
The campaign spokesman said: “When plainclothes policemen from the C Division of the Kogi State Police Command manning the hotel stopped the suspect to allow a search of the items, two other passengers of the tricycle suddenly took to their heels.
“This reinforced the suspicion of the officers who held unto Mr Isaac and took the trunk of the tricycle apart.
“When the ammunition was discovered, supporters waiting to receive Ajaka attempted to mete out jungle justice to Isaac but were restrained by the policemen.
“The suspect was whisked away to the C Division Police Station at 200 Units Housing Estate, Gadumo Lokoja from where he was said to have been transferred to the police headquarters.”
Adejoh-Audu recalled that the Murtala Yakubu Ajaka Campaign had for weeks been raising the alarm over plots to plant incriminating evidence on its campaign team by the government of Mr Yahaya Bello in the state.
The campaign organisation, therefore, called on the state police command to find out the mission of the suspect, adding that “it will go to any length legally allowed to ensure that subterfuges like the Lokoja incident are no longer directed at its candidate”.
It further warned that nothing short of a transparent and thorough investigation into the breach would be accepted by it.
Efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak with the command’s spokesperson, SP William Ovye Aya, were unsuccessful as he did not answer his calls.
He also did not reply to a text message sent to his mobile phone.
Meanwhile, a police source said the command would on Monday issue an official statement on the arrest of the suspect now in their custody.
