Hoodlums attack senator, ex-rep member, others’ houses in Kogi

SUSPECTED hoodlums have attacked the houses of the senator representing Kogi central senatorial district, Ahmed Ogembe, that of a former member of House of Representatives, Alhaji Abdulkarem Salihu and three other members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Okene, Okehi and Adavi local government areas respectively.

Other houses invaded by the thugs include the state financial secretary of the PDP, Mr Jude Sule, the Chairman of the party in Okehi, Mallam Adinoyi Aroke and that of the youth leader Mr Haruna.

It was gathered on Monday that about 50 suspected thugs invaded Ogembe’s house at Obehira, Okene local government area of the state and vandalised the building, destroying property that worth several millions of naira.

The attack on the lawmaker’s house came 24 hours after thugs invaded the venue of his empowerment programme for women of the senatorial district which made many people sustain various degrees of injuries.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that the hoodlums also attacked the residence of Salihu in Ihima, Okehi local government area of the state with dangerous weapons.

An eyewitness account disclosed that the people started shooting sporadically to scare those within the community before carrying out the dastardly act.

They allegedly looted his property and destroyed several cars belonging to the former house of representatives member.

However, Ogembe in his reaction called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of those behind the attacks in Kogi central senatorial district.

The Senator alleged that the masterminds of the attacks are the coordinators of killers squad being trained to harass, intimidate and unleash mayhem on members of the opposition party in the central senatorial districts.

The senator said except the those behind the crisis are quickly made to face the law, the dangerous trend could continue, lamenting that the development is dangerous for the people of the senatorial district.

“We are not only calling on security agencies to effect the arrest we are also asking for their prosecution because we have enough evidence to sue those behind the crime to court.

“After they tried severally to stop the program from holding and were resisted by youths and team of security men that were with me, they later in the night led same thugs to destroy houses and belongings of members of my party (PDP) and left many injured,” Ogembe said.

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The senator who said the security challenge forced him to make night trip back to Abuja due to the threat to his life, asked the people to hold the state government responsible should anything happen to him.

“It appears these boys have the support of the state government because 24 hours after this sad incident that was widely reported by media, no official statement has been issued by the government to condemn the act or caution the said thugs,” he said.

Also speaking Salihu explained that said his residence was invaded by the suspected thugs who vandalised four of his vehicles and also looted his property.

He added that it was the security men that save the situation as the hoodlums escaped by jumping the fence when the security men arrived.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kogi State Police Command, Mr William Aya, said the headquarters was still making contact with the divisional police officer in Kogi central to ascertain the incident.