Agents of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Ondo State Police Command on Wednesday arrested some thugs who recently attacked Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi in Akure, a police source told SaharaReporters.
The source disclosed that the seven thugs were arrested in a chalet inside Government House as they reportedly were planning another attack on the deputy governor, who recently broke with Governor Olusegun Mimiko and defected from the PDP to the APC.
Our source, who asked not to be named because of the “sensitivity of the case,” also stated that the hoodlums had been released on the orders of Governor Mimiko, who pressured the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke.
“The thugs were arrested inside the government VIP chalet where they were planning to coordinate another attack on the Deputy governor,” said the police source.
He added: “A senior police officer from the SARS department led the team of the officers that effected the arrest of the thugs inside the Government House, VIP chalet. But, unfortunately, they have been released on the direct orders of the governor who put pressure on the state Commissioner of Police to quickly release them.”
SaharaReporters exclusively obtained the names of the arrested suspects who are mostly known by their street nicknames in Akure: Dada (Alias Bullet), Aperi, Dele Origbe, Asin, Akin Iroko, Opejole, Ojule.
Our source said the suspected attackers are household names in the remote area of Oke Aro in Akure.
Earlier today, a member of a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) confirmed the arrest of the thugs, telling SaharaReporters that the thugs were well known members of a PDP killer squad.
“I knew those guys very well, especially the one bearing ‘Aperi.’ They are Mimiko’s boys. Those guys are on the payroll of the governor. They use exotic cars and have big houses inside the Alagbaka GRA based on the sponsorship of the governor.”
He added that the governor always used the thugs to threaten his political opponents in the state. “One of those guys eliminated the son of a popular Akure union leader,” the PDP factional leader revealed.
Another source in the Government House confirmed the brief detention of the suspects, but added that not all of them were caught inside the government chalet. He said two of the thugs were arrested outside the chalet.
“They were waiting for the governor, when the police van drove inside the governor’s compound and immediately arrested them.” The source also confirmed that the governor intervened to have the suspects released.
Shortly after the attack on him, Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi exclusively told SaharaReporters that Governor Mimiko was planning to eliminate him.
Meanwhile the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state police boss, Isaac Eke, of being unduly biased by releasing the hoodlums arrested yesterday for attacking the deputy governor.
In a statement, the APC’s publicity secretary, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, to journalistson Thursday in Akure, accused Mr. Eke of ignoring orders from the police zonal command in Osogbo to investigate the attack on Mr. Olanusi.
Mr. Adesanya said the people would not tolerate any form of partisanship from the police.
He urged Mr. Eke to immediately ensure that the perpetrators of the attack were prosecuted.
“Mr. Eke should also be reminded that we would not tolerate a bit of what Mr. Joseph Mbu, the former Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, did, in Ondo State.” He called for professionalism, adding that the era of impunity was over.
