An Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), identified as Samuel, narrowly escaped death on Wednesday after he was mobbed by angry residents in Kogi State.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the ASP was accused of working with Governor Yahaya Bello’s appointee, Friday Makama, to attack and disrupt the campaign rally of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in the November governorship election, Alhaji Muritala Ajaka.
In a video of the attack, which has gone viral, a man who did not reveal his identity said the ASP was the one driving the Hilux vehicle that Makama used to counter Ajaka’s campaign rally in Okpachala, a few kilometres away from Idah.
“You can see the bullets they shot at the vehicle. Some of our policemen are missing at this moment. We don’t even know where they are now. However, we are waiting for more security. One of them that was apprehended is now helping the Nigerian police at Idah Police Station,” he said.
In another video, the ASP said he was sent to Anyimgba by his Officer-in-Charge (OC), but Makama diverted them to Ajakawo village, where Ajaka hails from.
He said, “We were going to Ajakawo, I told Friday Makama that we should not go there because it is Yakubu’s village but he said he must go and started insulting me. I had to drop.
“My OC told us to go to Anyimgba and he was not aware that we diverted to Ajaka, I called him and informed him that we were going to Ajaka and that this man was causing trouble there and he said we should turn back but because they (Makama and his thugs) were the ones that drove us there, they refused to move us because it was their vehicle.”
This is one of the many clashes between Governor Bello and the SDP governorship candidate, Ajaka, who was once a political ally of the governor. Bello, whose second term as governor of Kogi will elapse soon, supports Usman Ododo, the candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the November 11 gubernatorial election.
