This is – Part One Scene Two – of the drama series between the Nigeria Police Force and Senator Dino Melaye in a game of cat and mouse display this afternoon. The senator was said to have jumped off from a moving vehicle by the police.
While the Nigeria Police issued a press statement that the embattled Senator Dino Melaye escaped from its custody by jumping through a moving vehicle on their way to Kogi, the senator’s Media Aide countered it that the Senator personally reported at to the police 10 o’clock Tuesday morning.
The police said Melaye jumped out of a police vehicle through the window after some hoodlums in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying the Senator to Kogi State.
The police said the senator was rescued from policemen by the hoodlums and taken to an unknown destination.
The incident took place around Area 1 Roundabout in Abuja.
The Force Spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, disclosed these in a statement in Abuja.
The statement reads: “At about 1200Hrs of today (Tuesday) Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federale neve hHigh Court, Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja.
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“In the process, the senator jumped out of the police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the policemen by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination.
“The police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja, where he was re-arrested.â€
The police said Melaye would be arraigned in court without further delay, adding that one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the senator’s escape has been recovered by the police investigation team.
Moshood said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to Melaye’s escape from lawful custody.
Meanwhile the Media Aide to Senator Dino Melaye said he never evaded arrest.
He said further that, ” “for the avoidance of doubt, Sen. Melaye had never evaded police invitation before now because there was none extended to him in the first place.
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“Rather, what the Police Force Public Relations Officer Mr Jimoh Moshood had been doing was to summon the senator through media briefings, a practice unconventional.â€
Our reporter recalls that the Nigeria Police had on Monday laid siege at residence of the lawmaker.
However, a statement earlier on Tuesday quoted the police as saying that Melaye as law-abiding citizen voluntarily submitted himself to operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who laid siege to his private residence since around 3.35 p.m. of Monday, April 23, 2018.
The statement added that “he (Melaye), along with his lawyers and personal aides, were driven in his private car to the SARS office in Guzape district of Abuja, among numerous police vehicles earlier deployed to his house.
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“With the media hype the whole saga generated especially his unwarranted travails in the hands of Immigration officials at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Monday and the attendant but dramatic police siege to his private residence thereafter, it became necessary for Melaye to end the drama, hence his choice to appear before the police.â€
Melaye’s aide said “we are constrained to make the record straight sequel to avalanche of calls by well-meaning Nigerians and supporters.
www.sojworld.com (c) April 24,2018
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