Benue: Police grill Ado LG Chair, Oche, over use of vigilant guard to attack political opponents
James Oche, the chairman of Ado Local Government Council in Benue State, is currently being held at the Force CID Abuja, where he is answering questions for alleged gross abuse of power.
It would be recalled that Oche and his deputy, Solomon Aboh, reportedly led over 50 members of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards to attack and brutalise perceived political opponents at the Double K Hotel, Otukpo, in November.
Oche and his notorious gang members are being interrogated by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force CID Abuja, for the alleged offense.
Oche is appearing before the Police after turning down multiple invitations in the last month after committing the offense.
Another suspect, one Hon. Mark Johnson Odey who is said to have dispossessed the victims of their phones, money, and other belongings is also in the Police net.
However, Oche’s vice, Sunday Aboh, another accomplice, is still at large at the time of filling this report.
The member representing Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu Federal Constituency, Dr. Francis Ottah Agbo, described the incident as politics of bitterness taken too far.
“The savage violence unleashed on Hon. Williams Ochonu and other members of my constituency in Otukpo, from which they suffered various degrees of injuries smacks of politics of bitterness and should be condemned by all well-meaning citizens!” he said.
The lawmaker, however, said that “humanity is one and it is high time we moved away from politics of violence and bitterness to politics of issues and development.”
Meanwhile, Oche, in a statement, had claimed that the victims tried to overpower and disarm over 50 guards.
He said, “on suspecting the presence of the volunteer guards, attempted to escape but two out of the three were overpowered and arrested while the other is at large”.
