The Kogi State Police Command has said that the arrest of the State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance, Olayinka Braimoh, during the state governorship election was not in connection with any electoral offence as circulated.
According to the command, Braimoh was arrested by the police because he disregarded movement orders.
Recall that there were 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 some campaign materials in his vehicle.
Following Braimoh’s release, he claimed 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, making him unable to vote on that day.
Giving details of his arrest, spokesperson for the Command, William Aya, clarified that Braimoh and his aides’ were arrested for flouting an extant order which forbade security personnel from moving around with VIPs while the election was ongoing.
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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 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 electoral offence related.”
However, the Chairman of the Party, Fred Ambo, described the arrest as a manipulated one.
Ambo condemned the manner in which it occurred and how the governorship candidate was treated.
