A second class traditional ruler, Alh. Nasiru Momoh and 30 other prominent people in Adavi local government area of Kogi state have been arrested and detained at the state CID, Lokoja.
The traditional ruler, who is the Asema Uka (Otumi – Ajoko), and others were said to have raised an alarm that the imposition of an unpopular candidate for the December 12, 2020 Kogi local government elections can ignite crisis in the area.
It was gathered that the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security in charge of Adavi LGA, Mr. Salami Joseph Omuya is said to have ordered for their detention.
The people of Adavi local government council had protested over the imposition of Omuya as the ‘anointed’ chairmanship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the December 12 council polls.
It was reliably gathered that the community were not happy with the decision of the government to impose Omuya on them due to his alleged poor performance as SSA security in the council.
Among those arrested and detained are the immediate past chairman of the council, Alh Ajoge Enesi; an APC stalwart, Major Abdullahi Aliyu (rtd); the youth leader and others.
According to sources, some top leaders of the party are not comfortable seeing the traditional ruler and some APC stalwarts supporting a chairmanship aspirant who was not ‘anointed’ by the governor.
The affected people were said to have been invited for a meeting by the police and have been detained since Tuesday without being charged to court.
It was revealed that the council poll has caused serious crises within the ruling party as the APC is accused of only giving nomination forms to those who are regarded as the governor’s anointed.
The imposition of candidates, it is learnt, has caused serious crises in many other local government areas in the state.
The Police public relations officer, William Aya, could not be reached for his reaction when contacted. However, a senior police officer who craves anonymity said “the detention is an order from above” and that they will only be charged to court if there is further directive.
