The Kogi State Police Command has clarified that the arrest of the Kogi State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance, Olayinka Braimoh, during the off-season governorship election was based on disregard for restriction order.
According to The PUNCH, the state Police Command Public Relations Officer, William Aya, made the clarification noting that Braimoh and his aides’ arrest was not related to the rumoured offence as reported by other media.
He explained that it was based on the violation of the order on the restriction of movement on the election day.
The command explained that Braimoh was arrested by the police based on the violation of the order on the restriction of movement on the election day.
This followed reports that the governorship candidate and some of his aides were arrested in the Kabba Bunu Local Government Area of the state, for allegedly having in their possession some campaign materials which were kept in his vehicle.
Meanwhile, their arrest created anxiety for the fear of a suspected kidnap when his aides and some of his party officials could not reach him on the phone.
Braimoh had also alleged that the police operatives collected their phones and kept them incommunicado after locking them up inside the cell of the Area Command for several hours.
Speaking further, the PPRO said that Braimoh was arrested for flouting an extant order which forbade security personnel from moving around with VIPs while the election was ongoing after which he was eventually released,
Aya added that the police would probe the matter as there were disciplinary procedures for the hearing of such matters.
He said, “It was a violation of the restriction of movement. You know there was an order that no security personnel should escort any VIP on the day of election and there was a restriction of movement.
“He violated the restriction of movement because they said the police and any security agencies attached to them should not move with them on that day. That was the order, and it was not as if there was any electoral offence.
“For this one now, it is the police that will probe. We have our disciplinary procedures for hearing of such. They stopped them while moving with security personnel. We put them in our office and allowed him to go because he is allowed to go alone and not go with his security agencies. It was just a violation of the order and it was not an electoral offence- related.”
The chairman of the party, Fred Ambo, described the arrest as a manipulated one, criticizing the manner in which it occurred and how the governorship candidate was treated.
He said Braimoh was rendered incommunicado for several hours and that the kind of treatment meted on him could only be experienced by a criminal.
