The police command in Kwara has arrested Musibau Esinrogunjo, the special assistant on rural mobilisation to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for assaulting a traffic warden on duty along Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin.

A video clip of the governor’s aide caught by police officers with a cartridge and substance suspected to be a hard drug had gone viral on social media.

In a statement on Sunday in Ilorin, the command’s spokesman, SP Okasanmi Ajayi, said Mr Esinrogunjo was not arrested for arms and drug dealing but a traffic offence.

The police explained that the aide slapped a traffic warden after being nabbed for driving against traffic.

“The attention of Kwara state police command has been drawn to a video clip making the rounds on some social media platforms depicting a scene of a man later identified as Comrade Musibau Esinrogunjo, being interrogated by a group of people over the recovery of some quantities of substance suspected to be Indian hemp and a cartridge wrapped in a paper,” said the police statement.

It added, “He was also seen being slapped by an unidentified person. The command wishes to set the record straight. The video in question was posted by a mischievous individual to achieve a result still unknown to the command. What actually transpired on the day was that the man in the video, later identified to be one Musibau Esinrogunjo, was caught committing a traffic offence by driving against traffic, thereby causing a serious traffic hold-up at Ahmadu Bello way, Ilorin.”

The police disclosed that Mr AbdulRazaq’s aide slapped the traffic warden and “drew the anger of passersby.”

“They attempted to physically assault him, but for the prompt arrival of police officers that rescued and took the parties to the police headquarters, the closest police formation to the scene,” added the police statement. “A search conducted in the vehicle of Mr Esinrogunjo resulted in the recovery of a substance suspected to be Indian hemp and an item that looked like a cartridge wrapped with charm.”

The police also stated that an investigation was carried out, revealing that Mr Esinrogunjo was Kwara governor’s special assistant, and because of that, they did not press any charges against him.

“He was warned to desist from such behaviour in future, and the traffic warden assaulted by the Esinrogunjo was pacified and asked to go back to his duty post, while Esinrogunjo was also released,” explained the police statement. “The command wishes to reiterate that, at no time was the suspect Esinrogunjo arrested for being in possession of weeds or bullet.”

The police’s statement reiterated that “it was a case of driving against the traffic and physically assaulting a policeman that brought him to the police headquarters. The physical assault on Esinrogunjo was from aggrieved passersby that followed the parties to the police headquarters, and the men were arrested, reprimanded and equally released.”

The police also stressed that the command did not share the video on social media platforms.

“The command has nothing to do with the video in circulation. Esinrogunjo was arrested for traffic offence and assault which had been satisfactorily dealt with.”

(NAN)