The Kogi state Police Command Wednesday said it had received a report that unidentified gunmen had attacked the secretary of the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Mr. David Mike, on Monday.
This was contained in a statement issued in Lokoja by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Williams Ovye-Aya, adding that the secretary was reportedly attacked along with two other people on the day.
Ovye-Aya consequently warned the public against making inflammatory statements on the incident which, according to him, was already under investigation.
The statement read, “On Monday, December 4, at about 1820hrs, one Mr. David Mike (M), secretary to Kogi governorship election petition tribunal, along with Labode Apreala (F), confidential secretary and Hassimu Adamu, the assistant secretary, came to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Kogi state Police Headquarters, and reported that they were attacked by gunmen.
“On the date, three of them left their hotel rooms in Lokoja about 1300hrs, heading to their office at the High Court Complex, driving in his (David’s) Peugeot 406 car, but that just before the CBN at about 1320hrs, one SUV vehicle which had earlier overtaken him, blocked his car with two other SUVs following behind.
“All of them (attackers) surrounded and blocked him as he attempted to reverse the car.
“That he (Mike) saw about seven hooded men, all heavily armed and dressed in black attire, who shot severally into the air and dragged him and his two other colleagues out of their car, ransacked the car and took away all the documents, including petitions filed by four parties.
“The names of the parties are
Action Alliance (AA), Action People’s Party (APP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
“The items also included two record books and a bag containing his personal items. He claimed to have also reported to the DSS Office.”
Ovye-Aya said the state Police Commissioner, Bethrand Onuoha, had ordered for a thorough and diligent investigation into the incident.
He said the statement on the attack became imperative following a series of distorted information on the incident; hence, the need to set the records straight.
“The Command hereby advises the general public to avoid making statements that might prejudice the on-going investigation into the matter.
“The Command also appeals to anyone with useful information on the alleged incident to provide the same to the Command,” he said.
Ovye-Aya, however, pledged to update the public as investigation progressed.