Posted by By MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja on
Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, has ordered the immediate arrest of Prince Olusola Akanmode, Action Congress [AC] chieftain and former deputy chief of staff to former vice president Atiku Abubakar, over alleged plot to cause mayhem in Kogi State ahead of next Saturday's rescheduled gubernatorial elections.
Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, has ordered the immediate arrest of Prince Olusola Akanmode, Action Congress [AC] chieftain and former deputy chief of staff to former vice president Atiku Abubakar, over alleged plot to cause mayhem in Kogi State ahead of next Saturday's rescheduled gubernatorial elections.
The directive followed the confessions of one Momoh Ajayi, a self-acclaimed member of the Oodua Peoples Congress [OPC], arrested by the police on Tuesday at Okene, alongside 21 others, who were riding in two buses on a yet-to-be-ascertained mission in the state.
Specifically, Momoh, who claimed to be a private security guard at Akanmode's residence in his country home at Aiyetoro-Gbede, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, alleged that three buses including a black Nissan Urvan marked XA 469 KAB and a red Toyota Hiace with registration number XE 409 FGE, took off on Tuesday from Akanmode's residence at Aiyetoro-Gbede for a meeting at an undisclosed venue within Kogi State.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja while being paraded along with his cohorts at the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja, Momoh, however, said he was not told where they were going for the purported meeting until their arrest by the police.
His words: 'I have been a maiguard to Prince Olusola Akanmode since last year in his house at Aiyetoro-Gbede. The journey we embarked on Tuesday which led to our arrest started from his house at Aiyetoro-Gbede. It was from there all of us took off for the trip."
While insisting that he was unaware of the mission for which they were being conveyed in three buses, Momoh said he merely complied and joined other members of the OPC for the trip on the directives of the group's leader at Aiyetoro-Gbede, who he identified as Nurudeen Ashore.
Throwing more light on how he ended in the police net, Momoh said: 'The day before yesterday [Monday], I went to the farm, but on my return, my wife told me that my oga in the OPC, Ashore, came to look for me at home. So, when I met him, he said some of our OPC members came from Kwara State, some from Kogi, that we were going for a meeting somewhere. Since my oga works for Olusola Akanmode, and I also work for him, I decided to go for the trip."
Following his revelations, the IGP immediately directed that Akanmode be arrested and interrogated on Momoh's claim. Said he: 'We are going for Akanmode immediately. His name has been mentioned and we are going to get him immediately."
Addressing newsmen on the development, Okiro lamented that some politicians in Kogi were still involved in hiring thugs to cause trouble despite his appeal for peaceful co-existence at three separate meetings he held with political leaders including the governorship candidates and party leaders in Kogi State.
Recalling his efforts to maintain peace in Kogi State, the IGP said 'you will recall that 'on February 28 and March 18, I invited and had meetings with the gubernatorial candidates and top political leaders of Kogi State, on how to ensure that the forthcoming election in the state is peaceful. I got information after the first two meetings that some party leaders in Kogi were still sponsoring thugs.
'So, I invited them for the third meeting and read the riot act to them. As if that was not enough, it appeared some of them did not heed my advice. Akanmode was one of the people invited for the meetings. He was here. So, if he has decided to engage these people [thugs], the law will take its course".
Okiro said the 22 armed youths were arrested at Okene where mobile policemen intercepted two out of the three 18-seater buses conveying them from Kabba and Aiyetoro-Gbede to Anyigba. He alleged that on interrogation, the suspects revealed that they are OPC members going to Anyigba for a political rally, while their leaders who were in another bus, never arrived the scene of arrest.
According to him, several dangerous weapons including guns, axes, knives and various charms which would have been used to cause breach of the peace in Kogi State, were recovered from the suspects.
The IGP, who reiterated his earlier warning against lawlessness, hooliganism and thuggery during and after the forthcoming elections in Kogi, said investigation into the case of the arrested 22 OPC members has commenced with a view to identifying their leaders and sponsors who shall be prosecuted if necessary, no matter how highly placed.