Kogi State Police Arrest Politician, 44 Others

Inspector Generalrl of Police, Solomon Arase

Kogi state police have arrested a politician along with 44 others suspected to have connection with abduction, armed robbery and other violent crimes in the last three weeks.

Solomon Arase, the inspector-general of police, announced the arrest through Emannuel Ojukwu, the force public relations officer, on June 22, Monday, at a news conference in Lokoja.

PM News reports that following the spate of kidnappings in the state, Arase deployed a special anti-crime task force headed by Chris Ezike.

According to Ojukwu, the task force was deployed on May 27, 2015 and supported by 300 mobile police officers drawn from across the country.

“The inspector-general charged the task force with the following:

• to appreciate the worrisome crime situation in Kogi and quickly design a template to contain the crime;
• to identify all criminal syndicates, their leaders/foot soldiers, sponsors and arrest them with operational precision;
• to identify kidnappers’ safe havens, hideouts and liberate victims,”  he said.

The arrested politician (name withheld) was said to have contested in state House Assembly election for Okehi constituency on April 11, but lost.

Among the suspects, there were a 72-year-old-man, said to be the uncle of an ex-minister from the state, a woman, a cripple and some inmates, who had earlier escaped from prison during jails break in the state.

Ojukwu alleged that the politician was responsible for supplying arms and ammunition to robbers and kidnappers.

Speaking about the arrest of the ex-minister’s uncle, the officer revealed that the elderly man had been on the police wanted list for alleged involvement in kidnapping.

Ojukwu added that during the successful operation police officers recovered from the suspects 14 arms and ammunition, including AK 47rifle, double barrel guns, machetes, knives and charms

According to him, communal conflicts, political thuggery, cultism, drug influence and the gateway nature of the state were some factors responsible for the crimes committed in Kogi.