Police Seal Off Dino Melaye’s Anti-Corruption Conference (PHOTO)
Scores
of armed police officers sealed off a Nicon Luxury hotel conference
room in the early hours of November 12, 2013, Tuesday, where an
anti-corruption conference was planned.
The
anti-corruption conference was planned by an organization promoted by
former House of Representatives member turned anti-corruption
campaigner, Dino Melaye.
The
police, including anti-terrorism squads, carried out the seal-off of
only the conference room the anti-corruption campaigners rented for the
conference.
It
is still unclear why the conference room was sealed. The police
authority responsible for Abuja, the FCT Command, denied ordering the
operation.
“I am not aware of it,” the spokesperson of the command, Altine Daniel, said.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Police headquarters, Frank Mba, is yet to respond to journalists’ inquiries.
However, Dino Melaye believes the seal-off was ordered by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.
“The hotel management said the police officers brought an order from the IG,” he said.“We will never give up, the conference must go on.“We already know that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back,” Mr. Melaye said.
It
would be recalled that the former lawmaker had a recurring battle with
the police over anti-corruption protests including that organised to
demand the removal and prosecution of Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah,
over the N255 million armoured car scandal. Mr. Melaye was briefly arrested, during the protest and released some time later.
