In what looks like dousing the tension generated by their continued occupation of the Abuja home of Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, the police have revealed that they had a warrant to arrest the lawmaker.
It would be recalled that the sustained occupation of the home of the lawmaker had attracted condemnation from some sections of the country, particularly members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who viewed it as an act of intimidation ahead of this year’s general election.
According to the police, Melaye is wanted for an alleged case of criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide, committed on July 19, 2018, when the lawmaker and his armed followers allegedly attacked police personnel, shot and wounded Sgt. Danjuma Saliu, who was attached to 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF) on stop and search duty along Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State.
In a statement on Monday by Jimoh Moshood, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, the police said their operatives, who were armed with a duly obtained warrant of arrest, were deployed to the lawmaker’s residence in Abuja, noting that they would not retreat until Melaye turned himself in for arrest and investigation.
“The police operatives, with a duly obtained warrant of arrest deployed to arrest Senator Dino Melaye in his residence in Abuja, will not retreat until Senator Dino Melaye surrenders himself for arrest and investigation,” the police said.
They added: “The police investigators submitted a letter of invitation dated July 23, 2018, signed by the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command, addressed to the Clerk, National Assembly, Abuja, inviting Senator Dino Melaye to report on July 26, 2018 at 1100Hrs at the Kogi State Police Command (CIID), Lokoja to answer to a case of criminal conspiracy and attempted culpable homicide against him under investigation in the Kogi State Police Command.”
Moshood, therefore, refuted the statement credited to Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, saying that the police did not tender any arrest warrant on Melaye at the National Assembly.
According to the police, “The claim by the Senate president in the media that the police did not submit a letter of invitation to the Clerk of the National Assembly is, therefore, incorrect as can be seen on attached letter with acknowledgment stamp of the Clerk, National Assembly, Abuja, 24 July, 2018. Despite this, Senator Dino Melaye bluntly refused to report himself to the police till date.
“For avoidance of doubt, attached to this press release are the copies of pictures of the shot police officer, Sgt. Danjuma Saliu, the police invitation letter addressed to the Clerk of National Assembly, Abuja and the medical report from the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi State, confirming the admission of Sgt. Danjuma Saliu into the hospital for treatment of the gunshot injury he sustained from the attack by Senator Melaye and his armed thugs while on stop and search duty along Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi State on July 19, 2018.”
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