-April 22, 2019, news/comment
ABEOKUTA-Twenty-four hours after hoodlums set ablaze the campaign office of Deputy Speaker of Ogun state house of assembly Olakunle Oluomo and his five buses in Coker bus stop, in the Ifo local government area of Ogun state, the state Police command has declared a Police Inspector missing.
The state Police command, however, said, no fewer than 25 suspects have been arrested in connection with the violence that erupted following the death of a resident by Police officers.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi disclosed this to newsmen in Abeokuta on Monday. Oyeyemi confirmed that both campaign office and five buses parked at Coker Bus-stop, belonging to Oluomo were burnt by the arsonists. He, however, declared that the whereabouts of an Inspector of Police was unknown since Sunday when the incident happened.
The PPRO said “now, a police inspector is missing. The police inspector was macheted during the mob attack and up till now, his whereabout is unknown. That gave the credence that they were attacked” Oyeyemi said the Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama and some top officers of the command have visited the scene of the incident on Monday for on-the-spot assessment. Mob lynches 26-yr-old man mistaken for thief. He said a young man, Akeem was killed by a stray-bullet while the policemen were making efforts to scare the mob which was ready to attack them.
According to Oyeyemi, men of the zonal Intervention Squad had already arrested a suspect for being in possession of guns. “That suspect mentioned another person that he was part of the notorious cult group which they all belonged to. “It was that one that was taken to Ifo to identify the suspect and they have successfully arrested him. But, on their way coming, normally, they would not want to allow the Police to arrest one of them. ” On their way coming, they mobbed and attacked the officers and in the course of escaping from the attack, they released gunshots and incidentally, it hits one person and he died”.
He also disclosed that the corpse was evacuated by Police. He, however, said few minutes after the incident, some hoodlums went to the office of the deputy Speaker in Coker Bus Stop and set it ablaze along with five buses. He described the act as criminal and vowed that those perpetrators would be made to face the law. He said ” Some people mobilised themselves and attacked the office of the deputy Speaker, burnt down the office and five vehicles in that area.
“The correlation between the
incident that happened and the reaction of the people is what we cannot
establish. Because there is no Nexus between the two. “For now, we have
arrested 25 suspects. The issues are two; the case of murder and arson. “But,
the case of arson is what the people have committed. That act is pure criminal,
there is nothing that warrants the spontaneous action”. He, however, said,
“those 25 suspects have been handed over to the State Criminal and
Investigation Department, they are going to be screened, those who are not
directly involved will be released and those who are directly involved are
going to face the law”.
Source: Vanguard
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