The senator representing Bayelsa East constituency at the Senate, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce, has said adduced reasons why Senator Dino Melaye jumped out of the Police van. In a tweet on Monday, Murray-Bruce disclosed that he was in the hospital to see Melaye, who represents Kogi West senatorial district at the Senate.
Murray-Bruce expressed his concerns about the embattled senator’s travails, saying, “Very sad to hear what transpired.” He disclosed that Mr. Melaye is asthmatic, but that during his encounter with policemen, “the police gassed him and he could barely breathe.”
The tear-gassing of the senator wasn’t a one-off thing, Murray-Bruce said, noting, “Second time they gassed him” (and) “he had to force his way out of the vehicle.” “Dino literally escaped death,” Murray-Bruce said.
The incident led to Mr. Melaye’s eventual hospitalisation. It may be recalled that Senator Dino Melaye was arrested by immigration officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport on Monday, April 23, on his way to Morocco, but he managed to escape from the security personnel.
But later on the same day, policemen stormed his residence at Shanga Street, Maitama, Abuja, where they kept a vigil in a bid to arrest him. On Tuesday morning, Melaye surrendered to the security operatives, who drove him away in a white Hiace bus followed by three other vehicles to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad facility at Guzape, Abuja.
Sources said Melaye surrendered to the police after some of his senator friends received assurances from the police authorities that he would not be taken to Lokoja where he alleged he might be assassinated.
It was gathered that Melaye, on suspecting that the police were taking him to Kogi State, engaged the officers in the bus in a scuffle and managed to jump out of the van after it was blocked by unidentified vehicles around 2.10pm. Murray-Bruce noted that Melaye might have died if he had remained in the Police van.
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