The cat and mouse game between Kogi senator, Dino Melaye and the leadership of the Nigerian police came to a head Tuesday morning when armed policemen engaged Melaye, representing Kogi West, in a rough struggle at the Area 1 part of Abuja metropolis.
The police had reportedly told the lawmaker, who volunteered to be taken to the police station after a long siege on his house, that they were taking him to court in Abuja before they suddenly made a detour to move him to Kogi state.
According to reports, Melaye refused and subsequently jumped out of the moving vehicle. He was then joined by a crowd which forced the police to back away.
Melaye, before an allegation of conspiracy and possession of illegal firearms was preferred against him by the police, has been in a running political battle with Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. He is currently at the centre of a recall process.
The lawmaker had on two separate occasions reported cases of assassination attempts on his life in Kogi to the police.
It is against this backdrop that he apparently preferred his arrest and arraignment in Abuja than for the police to arrest, detain or arraign him in Kogi state.
A source revealed that Melaye has been taken to the Zankli hospital at Mabushi, Abuja where he is currently recuperating.