Gbenga Odogun, Lokoja
The Okene country home of the senator representing Kogi Central, Ahmed Ogembe, has been attacked by hoodlums.
Also, the house belonging to a former member of House of Representatives, Alhaji Abdulkarem Salihu, and three other members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Okene, Okehi and Adavi Local Government Areas of the state respectively were raided.
Sources close to the senator told our correspondent that valuables worth millions of naira were carted away.
Our correspondent gathered that thugs numbering over 50 allegedly invaded Ogembe’s house at Obehira, Okene Local Government Area of the state and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
This came after the attack on the senator and over 1,000 women in Okene on Saturday during the empowerment programme initiated by the senator. Many were reportedly injured during the attack.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that the suspected thugs invaded the area with different kinds of weapons and fired shots to scare people away.
They allegedly looted Salihu’s property and destroyed cars belonging to the former House of Representatives member.
Other houses invaded by the thugs included the ones belonging to the financier of the state PDP, Mr. Jude Sule; the Chairman of the PDP in Okehi, Mallam Adinoyi Aroke, and the PDP youths leader, one Mr. Haruna.
In response to the attacks, Ogembe has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of those behind the attacks in Kogi Central.
In a statement issued on Monday in Lokoja, the senator alleged that those behind the attacks were the coordinators of a killer squad being trained to harass, intimidate and unleash mayhem on members of the opposition party in the senatorial district.
He said, “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 in court.
“After they tried several times to stop the programme from holding and were resisted by youths and a team of security men that were with me, they later in the night led the same thugs to destroy houses and belongings of members of my party (the PDP) and left many injured,” Ogembe said.
The senator, who said the security challenge forced him to make a night trip back to Abuja due to threat to his life, urged the public to also 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 the media, no official statement has been issued by the government to condemn the act or caution the said thugs,” he said.
Salihu, who also spoke with newsmen, said his house was invaded by the suspected thugs who vandalised four of his vehicles and looted his property.
He added it was the security men that saved the situation while the hoodlums escaped by jumping the fence when the security men arrived.
When contacted for comment, the Police Public Relations Officer at the Kogi State Police Command, Mr. William Ayah, said he was still trying to contact the divisional police officer in Kogi-Central.
He promised to get back to our correspondent after getting situation reports from the divisional police officer in charge of Okene, but he had yet to do so as of the time of filling this report.
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