The Police yesterday revealed how a re-enforced team of personnel, rearrested Senator Dino Melaye on hospital bed in Abuja.
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Jimoh Moshood, said the Senator representing Kogi West was being driven to Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, when he jumped out of a moving vehicle.
New Telegraph learnt that an angry mob had rescued the embattled lawmaker from being taken to Kogi State.
Melaye was earlier, yesterday, arrested and detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) facility along the Area 1 expressway, Abuja, and later told that he was being taken to court at about 1:15p.m.
It was further learnt that the lawmaker accepted to go to court with the Police operatives, but a twist ensued on the way around the Area 1 Roundabout, when they attempted to take the lawmaker to his home state, Kogi, where he has been having a running battle with Governor Yahaya Bello.
It was at that point that Melaye raised the alarm and started struggling with the SARS operatives, thereby attracting the attention of passers-by and sympathizers who gathered round the police vehicles and insisted that the lawmaker must be dropped.
The FPRO alleged that Melaye’s escape was facilitated by some suspected “miscreants”, who he claimed, had blocked the Lokoja-bound movement with two Toyota Hilux vehicles.
Moshood, however, noted that through re-enforcement, policemen were able to trail the embattled lawmaker to Zankli Hospital in Abuja, where he was rearrested.
“At about 1200Hrs of Tuesday, Senator Dino Melaye, while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court, Lokoja from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in two Toyota Hilux vehicles blocked the police vehicle conveying Senator Melaye around Area 1 Roundabout, Abuja.
“In the process, the senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the policemen by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination,” Moshood said.
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According to him, “The police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The senator would be arraigned in court without further delay.”
One of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the escape of the senator has been recovered by the police investigation team.
“The Inspector-General of Police has directed a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the rescue and escape of Senator Melaye from lawful custody,” the FPRO said.
One of the passers-by, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that their attention was drawn to the lawmaker’s shout for help, and immediately the SARS vehicle was surrounded by a crowd of sympathizers.
According to the source, the operatives became overwhelmed by the number of passers-by and abandoned Melaye and drove off to avoid being attacked by them.
The source said: “What happened was that we were at the Area One roundabout when we saw the SARS vehicle carrying someone. We saw the person struggling and shouting at the top of his voice. So many people now gathered to see what was happening. When we looked close, we saw it was Dino Melaye.
g to him, we said we won’t allow them take him anywhere. That was how we rescued him from them and they drove away when people became too much.”
It was further learnt that the legislator, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was taken to Zankli hospital, at the Mabushi District, where he was receiving medical attention.
Some newsmen who visited the hospital sighted the lawmaker being wheeled from an ambulance on a stretcher into the emergency unit of the hospital.
Barely an hour after being admitted into the hospital, some truckloads of mobile policemen were seen barricading the entrance to the street where the hospital is situated.
The Police had accused Melaye of “snatching” his international passport from officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Personnel of the NIS posted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, had prevented Melaye from undertaking an official trip to Morocco.
