Gunmen seized the petitions of four political parties challenging the electoral victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Usman Ododo, in the November 11, 2023 poll, according to David Mike, the Secretary to the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
This incident was reported to the police by Mike, as confirmed by William Aya, the state police spokesperson.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Aya conveyed that Mike informed the police that he was attacked on Monday by armed men while en route to his office at the High Court Complex in Lokoja, the state capital. Mike, accompanied by two other officials, encountered the assailants during the incident.
The police statement described the attackers surrounding and obstructing Mike as he attempted to reverse.
The statement noted, “That he saw about seven hooded men all heavily armed and dressed in black attire who shot severally into the air and dragged him and his two other colleagues out of their car, ransacked the car and made away with all the documents including Petitions filed by four (4) Parties namely Action Alliance (AA), Action People’s Party (APP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP)/two (2) Record Books/a Bag containing his personal items.”
The Commissioner of Police in the state has ordered an investigation into the incident, following a similar attack on the residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gabriel Longpet, last Friday.