The lawmaker representing Kogi West district, Senator Dino Melaye, has been reportedly abducted by gunmen in Gwagwalada, a suburb of Abuja.
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, who represents Bayelsa East, disclosed this on Thursday via his Twitter handle.
He revealed that he got the information from Melaye’s brother who said the lawmaker was reportedly kidnapped after the gunmen attacked them on their way to Kogi State.
I have just been informed by Moses Melaye, @dino_melaye’s brother, that Dino has been abducted by unknown persons in a Toyota Sienna that blocked their car and overpowered them on their way to Kogi to answer to Dino’s court case. Lets be on the watch out. Will keep you updated.
— Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) July 26, 2018
One of the associates of the lawmaker who witnessed the incident, Musa Shuaibu, told reporters that he was abducted along the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.
Shuaibu said, “As we speak, his (Melaye’s) whereabouts is unknown. Nigerians must come to his rescue.”
However, the police have yet to confirm the abduction.
Melaye was among the senators who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker’s trial over alleged gun running continued on Thursday at the Magistrate Court in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
His lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, who was represented in court by Yemi Mohammed, told Magistrate Suleyman Abdalah that he had it on good authority that the senator was attacked on Wednesday while living for Lokoja.
According to him, the whereabouts of the lawmaker has yet to be ascertained up till the time the Magistrate Court sat for his trial.
Similarly, an officer in charge of police prosecution, Theophilus Otema, told the magistrate that the prosecuting counsel had an emergency which made it extremely difficult for him to appear in court.
He then requested that the matter be adjourned till September 23, but the magistrate rejected the date saying it contravened the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kogi State, as amended.
Magistrate Abdalah consequently adjourned till August 9 for the commencement of trial.
