Kogi: Why We Arrested Governorship Candidate On Election Day – Police

The Kogi State Police Command has opened up on the reason for arresting the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Olayinka Braimoh, during the off-cycle governorship election in the state.

The command stated that the arrest was not connected to any electoral offence.

It, however, revealed that Braimoh was arrested based on the violation of the order on the restriction of movement on election day.

This online medium recalls that Braimoh and some of his aides were arrested in the Kabba Bunu Local Government Area of the state for allegedly possessing some campaign materials kept in his vehicle.

Shedding more light on the situation while speaking with Punch, the spokesperson for the state Police Command, William Aya, clarified that Braimoh and his aides’ arrest was not related to the rumoured offence as reported by some media houses.

He added that Braimoh was arrested for flouting an extant order which forbade security personnel from moving around with VIPs while the election was ongoing.

Aya 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 the election, and there was a restriction on 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.”