Dino Melaye, senator representing
Kogi-west, was on Thursday absent at a magistrate court in Lokoja, Kogi state,
where he is facing a gun-running trial.
Ben Murray-Bruce, senator
representing Bayelsa east, had earlier tweeted that Melaye had been kidnapped.
According to Bruce, his colleague
was abducted on his way to court for the trial.
Musa Shuaibu, one of the
associates of the Kogi lawmaker, said he witnessed the abduction along the
Abuja-Lokoja highway.
“As we speak, his (Melaye’s)
whereabouts is unknown. Nigerians must come to his rescue,” he told reporters.
Melaye was among the senators who
defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) on Tuesday.
He is facing charges for
allegedly aiding criminals.
At the court on Thursday, Yemi
Mohammed, Melaye’s lawyer, told Suleyman
Abdalah, the presiding judge, that the senator was attacked in Gwagwalada,
Abuja, on Wednesday on his way home from the court where he was arraigned for
attempted suicide.
“I learnt that he was attacked
yesterday in Gwagwalada on his way home from the court. Up till now, I have not
been able to reach him. I don’t know where he is at the moment,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed said the prosecution
counsel was not ready to open the case “due to the reason best known to them.”
However, Theophilus Oteme,
officer in charge of police prosecution, told the court that the prosecuting
counsel had an emergency, which made it “extremely difficult to appear in
court.”
He asked for adjournment till
September 23.
But Abdalah opposed the request
on the basis of time span, arguing that “it contravened administration of
criminal justice law of Kogi State as amended.”
He, therefore, adjourned the case
till August 9.
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