Lagos Assembly member, 2 others arrested with guns

Amember of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dipo Olorunrinu and two others have been arrested for allegedly being in possession of two automatic rifles. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who confirmed the arrest of Dipo Olorunrinu, said that the lawmaker “was implicated by two of his boys”.

Edgal said Olurunrinu, a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) representing Amuwo Odofin Constituency was arrested for allegedly refusing to turn in his firearms during the recent mop up exercise of illegally acquired fire arms as directed by the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim.

Edgal gave the names of the other two suspects as Wale Oye, 37 and Ganiyu Ajiboluwa, 47.

He said that the three suspects were being quizzed as at press time yesterday by detectives at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja.

He said: “The Nigeria Police, Lagos State Police Command wishes to inform members of the public that the resolve of the Force to mop up illegal and prohibited firearms in the hands of those who failed to take advantage of the grace period offered by the Inspector General of Police to surrender their guns to police formations nearest to them, has yielded dividends, following the arrest of three persons in possession of prohibited firearms.

“The first and second suspect, namely, Wale Oye and Ganiyu Ajiboluwa, were arrested on July 7, 2018 at about 5.45 pm by a team of the Inspector General of Police X-Squad on patrol along Festac Extention by Apple Junction, Amuwo Odofin.

“A single barrel Mossverg Pump action rifle with identification number B/NO D512429, one Zirve Magnum Pump action rifle with number B/NO 45639 and two live cartridges were recovered from the aforementioned suspects.

“However during interrogation, the suspects claimed the guns were given to them by one Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu, male, age 47 years, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the Lagos State House of Assembly, to escort him to a political rally.

“The Honourable member was arrested and he admitted ownership of the guns. To further prove that the weapons are his, he produced expired licences dated 2015 and 2016 respectively. He, however, could not justify his refusal to surrender the guns during the window period offered by the Inspector General of Police in the last nationwide mop up of illegal firearms and ammunition exercise.”

Edgal added that investigation into the matter was still in progress and that further findings on the matter would be communicated to the general public.