DSS Arrests Emerhor Over Security Breach At Eagle Square

Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and the Executive Director (Projects) of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ajogbe has been reported over what appears to be Department of State Security, DSS investigation of breach of security at Eagle Square on Saturday during the National Convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

TheNewsguru reports that Emerhor was picked up on Monday while trying to lead a delegation of Urhobo Kings to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Earlier reports say Emerhor was prevented from entering the presidential villa in Abuja on Monday by security operatives at the pilot gate of Nigeria’s seat of power who refused to allow him to join the delegation of the Urhobo stakeholders who paid a courtesy call on President Buhari.

Emerhor and Ajogbe had gone with some Urhobo kings and leaders to discuss with the President on some issues when both men were arrested and removed from the delegation.

The report says Buhari hosted the visitors at the council chamber of the villa but Emerhor who put the event together was not part of it.

Advertisement

A presidential source said he was denied access to the villa because of the clash between his supporters and those of Ovie Omo-Agege, senator representing Delta central.

The report further says Emerhor and Ajogbe were later granted bail by the DSS after interrogation and directed to report back on tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Emerhor’s arrest has been trending on several social media platforms, especially WhatsApp groups, since midday.

It would be recalled that delegates from Delta State were violently attacked and injured by suspected hoodlums who disguised as “observers” to gain entry into the convention venue. The incident happened when President Muhammadu Buhari was addressing delegates to the convention under the attention of local and global media.

In a later interview on Channels Television, Emerhor apologized for the violent attack but absolved his group of blame. The DSS appears to be treating the matter as very serious threat to the security of the President.

Emerhor, an APC governorship candidate in the 2015 election, and Omo-Agege lead two different factions of APC in Delta.

The rivalry in the state played up at Eagle Square, Abuja, while Buhari was delivering his speech on Saturday.

Advertisement

Trouble started when loyalists of Emerhor reportedly teamed up with supporters of Victor Ochei, a former speaker of the Delta state house of assembly, to attack those in the camp of Omo-Agege.

They dislodged the senator’s supporters from the pavilion allocated to delegates from Delta and some of Omo-Agege’s loyalists who initially put up resistance, sustained injuries in the process.

Security agents including soldiers, policemen and members of the civil defence corps deployed in the venue quickly moved in to prevent the fight from escalating.

When he visited Abba Kyari, chief of staff to Buhari, three weeks ago, Emerhor boasted that the president will secure two million votes from Delta in 2019.

In 2015, Buhari got 418,519 votes from the entire six south-south states, 48,910 from Delta.

But Emerhor had told state house correspondents that Buhari’s performance would boost his chances in the coming presidential election.

Advertisement

He was accompanied by Ima Niboro, ex-spokesman of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).