News Editor
Immediate past chairman of Obi local government area in Nasarawa state, Iyimoga Oyigye, has been arrested for alleged criminal breach of peace.
Credible sources said Oyigye was invited and detained by the police for 24 hours but was later released on bail.
Our correspondent gathered that Oyigye ran into trouble with the law enforcement agents when thugs allegedly loyal to him tried to prevent police from carrying out their lawful duty in Obi community.
The thugs were said to have stoned and injured a police personnel who was part of the team sent to disperse them from an illegal revenue checkpoint mounted at Mararaban Obi.
“The thugs who always refer to themselves as the former chairman’s boys had a scuffle with some policemen when the security personnel stormed the revenue checkpoint in Mararaba and ordered the thugs to steer clear because they have no such authorization.
“During the scuffle where they used different weapons including stones on the police, one of the police personnel sustained injuries on his forehead. Of course police traced them and arrested some of them” a resident of the area told LEADERSHIP.
It was gathered that during interrogation, the thugs repeatedly mentioned the name of the former council chairman prompting his arrest for interrogation by the police.
Attempts to speak to the former Chairman were fruitless, as he did not respond to calls by our Correspondent.
When our reporter visited his residence in Obi, yesterday, a member of the family said he (Oyigye) was in Lafia but declined to comment on the arrest.
When contacted on phone, the spokesperson of Nasarawa State Police command ASP Rahman Nansel said ‘I cannot confirm whether he was arrested or not. I have to make my findings first’.
Meanwhile, it is observed that following the scuffle with the police, the checkpoint, which even though is one of the sources of revenue for the council area but was illegally constituted, has been temporarily dismantled.
It would be recalled that Oyigye, who served as the council chairman on the platform of APC, was once accused by some councilors of allegedly sending thugs to disrupt their sitting when they met to serve him an impeachment notice.
Sometimes in September 2021, the members of the Obi local government legislative arm converged at the secretariat complex of the LG for a move to impeach Oyigye but thugs disrupted the sitting.
“He sent thugs to invade where we were sitting, our cars were smashed and so we had to run for safety”, the councilor representing Iyimoga’s Obi electoral ward, Matthew Simon popularly known as Adogbo, had said then.
