Six individuals have been apprehended in connection with the harassment of a member of the National Assembly during a courtesy call to the governor at his Lugard House office in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State. The State Government disclosed this on Tuesday.
Consequently, the governor has prohibited unauthorized individuals from entering the Government House and has called for the immediate prosecution of the offenders, as per a statement released by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Mohammed.
Lawmakers from Kogi State in the Senate and House of Representatives had visited Governor Yahaya Bello to congratulate him on the peaceful and credible conduct of the November 11 governorship election and to pledge their loyalty to him and the incoming administration.
Subsequently, the governor was dismayed to learn about the lawmakers’ harassment on their way out of the Government House and promptly ordered the arrest of the culprits, as stated by Mohammed.
The governor urged security agencies to thoroughly investigate the incident and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
The governor’s directives to the heads of security agencies were to swiftly apprehend those involved and ensure they face the full force of the law.
In a telephone interview with Daily Trust, the senator representing Kogi East in the National Assembly, Isah Echocho, recounted how he and other federal lawmakers from the All Progressives Congress were attacked by thugs inside the Government House.
The attackers singled out Echocho and accused him of being responsible for APC’s poor performance in the last governorship election in Kogi East senatorial district, despite APC’s candidate winning the election with 446,237 votes.
Echocho stated, “I was attacked by thugs in Government House Lokoja but the police rescued me.”
He further explained the sequence of events, emphasizing that the attack happened after a courtesy call to the governor and denied that the governor was involved in the attack.