Senator jumps off moving vehicle to escape Police custody

Kogi lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, reportedly jumped off a moving vehicle to stop an attempt by police officers to transport him to Kogi state to answer to criminal charges on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

The lawmaker had been arrested earlier on Tuesday by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja after weeks of refusing to honour an invitation from the authorities.

In media reports making the rounds, the lawmaker was later involved in a rough struggle with officers when they tried to transport him to Kogi state.

The operatives had reportedly told him he was being taken to a court in Abuja but had suddenly appeared to be moving him to Kogi, prompting him to jump from the moving vehicle.

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Melaye a wanted man

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.

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.