Senator hospitalised after jumping out of moving police vehicle

The lawmaker had been arrested earlier on Tuesday by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja and was being transported to Kogi when he reportedly jumped out of the moving vehicle which led to the injuries.

Senator Melaye arrived the Zankli Medical Center in Mabuchi district of Abuja in an ambulance around 4:25pm, after which he was admitted into the emergency unit.

Update: Thugs helped Melaye escape

According to a statement signed by Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Jimoh Moshood, Melaye had briefly escaped from police officers on Tuesday with help from hoodlums.

The police spokesperson said unidentified hoodlums blocked the path of the police vehicle conveying Melaye, which prompted the lawmaker to jump out of the vehicle through the window and escape with the hoodlums.

The police team later traced him to the hospital where he was eventually arrested for a second time.

The statement read, "At about 1200Hrs of today Sen. Dino Melaye while in lawful custody of the Nigeria Police Force and being taken for arraignment in Federal High Court Lokoja, from Abuja, escaped from lawful custody when hoodlums and miscreants in Two (2) Toyota Hilux Vehicles blocked the Police vehicle conveying Senator Dino Melaye around Area 1 Round About, Abuja and in the process the Senator jumped out of the Police vehicle through the window and was rescued from the Police men by hoodlums and miscreants to an unknown destination.

"The Police team re-enforced and trailed Senator Dino Melaye to Zankli Hospital, Abuja where he was re-arrested. The Senator would be arraigned in court without further delay.

"Meanwhile, one of the Toyota Hilux vehicles used by the hoodlums and miscreants in aiding the escape of the Senator has been recovered by the Police investigation team."

Melaye charged with criminal conspiracy, other crimes

Melaye was previously wanted for questioning over his alleged involvement in a case of unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

After criminal suspects Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama, and Nuhu Salisu, aka Small, were arrested at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi on January 19, 2018, they confessed to the police that Senator Melaye hired them to cause unrest in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The suspects revealed that the lawmaker handed them a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and the sum of N430,000 to recruit hardened troublemakers and unleash mayhem in Kogi.

Despite police authorities extending several public invitations to the lawmaker asking him to come in and answer questions about the allegations at its Kogi command, he refused to honour the invitations, alleging that the police was colluding with the Kogi State government to cause him harm.

He was officially declared wanted by the police on March 28, the day he was due to be arraigned in court over the charges of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms alongside OsamaandSmall who escaped from their prison cell. Both of them were rearrested before April 1, but the lawmaker refused to honour the invitation from authorities unless the questioning was transferred to the Abuja command.

Melaye was arrested by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, while he was on his way to Morocco for an official engagement on Monday, April 23.

According to the police, the lawmaker snatched his seized international passport from NIS operatives and retreated to his house in Maitama, Abuja, where police officers later laid siege into the early hours of Tuesday. Early on Tuesday, he announced his decision to finally accept the invitation and surrendered.

The lawmaker surrendered to officers on Tuesday morning and was taken to the SARS detention facility located opposite the old Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN junction along the Area 1 expressway, a detention facility reputed to house hardened criminals.

In a statement signed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Aremu Adeniran, in Abuja, he said Melaye surrendered himself to officers to "answer to criminal indictments levelled against him in a case of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, political thuggery and other violent crimes in Kogi state."

After his arrest on Tuesday, media reports indicated that Melaye would be transported to Lokoja, Kogi's capital, to be paraded with other suspects who are involved with him in the case.

However, the lawmaker has always said he fears for his life in his home state because of an alleged plot by Governor Yahaya Bello to destroy and possibly assassinate him.