2019 Elections: How Thugs Abducted Police Chief in Bayelsa

Matilda Omonaiye/

Details have emerged on how the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Kola Okunola, was briefly taken hostage by thugs allegedly loyal to politicians in Bayelsa State.

State government officials have linked the thugs to a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the member representing Brass Constituency 1 in the Bayelsa State House òf Assembly, Israel Sunny-Goli.

The allegation was contained in a statement by the Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Kemela Okara, on Sunday.

Okara said the thugs, allegedly led by Sunny-Goli, and backed by the military, were mounting pressure on Okunola to accept fake results from Brass.

He added that the DCP’s refusal to sign the fake result caused a disagreement between him and a Major of the Nigerian Army and his men.

According to him, the DCP, who insisted on submitting the right results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was taken hostage in the waters and stripped naked by the thugs.

Okara said the situation had caused serious tension in Brass.

He lamented that the Nigerian Army seemed to have taken charge of collation of the election results in Brass.

Police spokesman, ACP Frank Mba, however described the incident differently.

Mba told NewsmakersNG that he spoke with DCP Okunola on telephone last night and early this morning.

He said, “The DCP was not abducted; he is currently not under any form of unlawful detention or restraint. He is absolutely safe. What happened can be best described as a serious assault on a police officer in the course of performing his legitimate duties. It is a classical example of the risk and hazard we face everyday as police officers in the course of serving our fatherland.”

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered a comprehensive investigation into the incident, promising that all persons implicated by investigation would be brought to book. He warned that the police under his watch would not condone any form of attack on its personnel.

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