By Correspondent<\/p>\n
In a bid to arrest the culprit behind the stolen Osun election PVCs,the state State Police Command on Wednesday announced the arrest of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hon. Teslim Igbalaye, and five other persons for allegedly in possession of illegal Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), voters register, among others.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, the command said the operation followed intelligence that a suspected criminal gang was operating around the Oroki Estate area of Osogbo. <\/p>\n
Ojelabi noted that the operation was also targeted at apprehending a suspect identified as Abiodun Arowomole, popularly known as \u201cAshipa,\u201d who is on its watch list over alleged offences including murder.<\/p>\n
He stressed where officers also recovered N4,810,500 in cash, a Dynabook laptop, a photocopy machine, a printer, two Permanent Voter Cards and voter registers for Wards 1 to 15 noting that the items are under investigation for alleged electoral offences.<\/p>\n
The command identified those arrested as the SSG, Hon. Teslim Igbalaye, Akande Taiwo, Oladele Abiodun, Adeyemo Lukman, Olaoye Muftau and Aderemi Musliu, saying they were found within the premises during the operation and taken into custody.<\/p>\n
The police said investigations would focus on possible offences including alleged voter bribery under Section 121 of the Electoral Act, criminal conspiracy, harbouring a wanted suspect and any other offences that may be disclosed during the investigation. <\/p>\n
He said, \u201cActing on credible and actionable intelligence that some criminal gang were hibernating around Oroki Estate Area, Osogbo, operatives of the Command carried out a lawful operation within the environs while one suspect identified as Abiodun Arowomole, popularly known as “Ashipa,” who has been on the watch-list in connection with serious criminal offences including murder and others at a residential property linked to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Osun State.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the operation, officers recovered exhibits comprising cash sum of four million eight hundred ten thousand, five hundred naira (N4,810,500), one Dynabook Laptop, one Photocopy Machine, one Printer, two Voter\u2019s Card and voter register for ward 1-15. These exhibits have been secured and are currently in police custody for detailed forensic examination and further investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Osun State Government had alleged that the Nigeria Police Force carried out coordinated raids on the residence of several top government officials, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), describing the operations as a threat to the conduct of the August 15 governorship election.<\/p>\n
The allegations were contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, who claimed that police officers invaded the residence of the SSG without a search warrant.<\/p>\n
Alimi added that the operation was led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, while some family members of the SSG were allegedly taken to an undisclosed location. <\/p>\n
However, All Progressives Congress(APC) Campaign Council through its Head of Media, Engr Remi Omowaiye described the police raid on the residence of the Secretary to the Osun State Government, Alhaji Teslim Igbalaye, as a development that underscores the need for instant investigation into allegations of political violence and electoral misconduct by the ruling party in the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe commend the Nigeria Police Force for the professional operation and encourage the security agencies to sustain the momentum by conducting thorough investigations wherever credible intelligence points to the stockpiling of weapons or the harboring of criminal elements. No individual should be above the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe peace and security of Osun State must not be sacrificed on the altar of political ambition. The people of the state deserve to exercise their democratic rights in an atmosphere free from fear, intimidation, coercion or violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Correspondent In a bid to arrest the culprit behind the stolen Osun election PVCs,the state State Police Command on Wednesday announced the arrest of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hon. Teslim Igbalaye, and five other persons for allegedly in possession of illegal Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), voters register, among others. In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16084"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16086,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions\/16086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}