Alleges threat to life and the arrest of Edward Onoja, the story.

 
*Gov Bello’s Chief of Staff, Onoja, arrested, released *
I was never arrested-Onoja Following alleged security breach on a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Jibrin Usman, the Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Edward Onoja may have been taken into custody by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) at the weekend. Onoja’s alleged arrest and detention followed a tip-off of an impending attack on Usman by mercenaries identified as ex-Niger Delta militants. Preliminary confessional statements obtained from the arrested gang members fingered Onoja as mastermind of the planned attack on Usman.
Onoja, who was said to have been detained on Friday till the early hours of Saturday was however released after the intervention of his boss, using his contacts in the presidency. A source close to the retired Naval chief told our correspondent that Onoja, whom he refered to as “the chief priest of Governor Bello”, had recruited some thugs believed to be ex-Niger-Delta militants with the purpose of staging an attack on Usman.
The source said Usman currently fears for his safety bearing in mind the murder of the late former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh whose killers are yet to be unravelled six months after he was murdered. He said that though the plot to attack Usman was at the planning stages, they could not be hatched as two of the militants were promptly arrested by men of the Department of State Services, DSS in Lokoja, following a tip-off. According to the source, “the chief of staff to the governor, Edward Onoja who doubles as the chief priest of the voodoo administration of Yahaya Bello in Kogi State brought some ex-Niger delta militants to Kogi with the aim of attacking the former Chief of Naval Staff.
But as it turned out the DSS in Lokoja got wind of the planned attack and the militants were promptly arrested. Upon their arrest and during interrogation, the arrested persons revealed that they were recruited by Onoja who was then invited to the DSS in Abuja, arrested and detained. We are aware that Mr Onoja was taken into DSS custody on Friday and was there until Saturday when his boss (Bello) used his contacts in The Presidency to secure his release, temporarily, while investigations into the matter continues. We make bold to say that this latest ugly development regarding the planned atack on Admiral Usman may have been prompted by the killing of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh and the inability of the federal government to fish out and prosecute his killers.” The source continued:
“Sadly, this is what you get when you allow a precedence like the daylight murder of a top security figure in the caliber of a retired Chief of Defence Staff who got killed just like that with little or no action on the part of the federal government to apprehend and bring his killers to book, six months after the dastardly act was carried out”. Vice Admiral Jibrin Usman, the last Chief of Naval Staff in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, is a major contender for the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Kogi State, in the August governorship primaries, ahead of the November 2019 election in the state.
There have been recent reports of attacks and damages to campaign materials belonging to the Jibrin Usman Campaign Organisation, by persons suspected to be agents of the Yahaya Bello administration. Billboards, posters and various publicity materials of the Usman Campaign have been reported torn down by the hoodlums. But, Onoja in a video he released on the social media on Sunday denied the arrest story. “I want to categorically state that it was a lie from the pit of hell.
I was never arrested, never invited…”, he said in the video. Besides the recent security alarm by Admiral Jibrin, Onoja will have to answer to several allegations of lawlessness, thuggery and brigandage in Kogi State, under the Bello government, which he has been serially accused of personally orchestrating. Kogi State was at the centre of national media attention on the eve of the February 2019 general elections for instance, when a gang of armed, hooded persons surrounded the GRA, Lokoja home of former Governor Ibrahim Idris, even as a meeting of opposition stakeholders was holding there ahead of the polls. Another former Kogi State governor, Idris Wada; Senators Tunde Ogbeha, Dino Melaye; AVM Salifu Atawodi were among dignitaries held hostage on the occasion.
It took a call to the Commander, Command Army Records, Lokoja, by one of the respected former military chiefs at that meeting for the hoodlums to be disbanded by soldiers of the Nigerian Army. There were also media reports ahead of the February polls, that uniformed armed men barricaded the Abuja-Lokoja highway at Banda, the northern entry into Lokoja, ostensibly to prevent specific political leaders from the state from participating in the elections. Former Governor Idris, Melaye and the Social Democratic Party, SDP candidate for Kogi Central senatorial zone in that election, Natasha Akpoti, were targeted. Large scale violence, shootings and ballot snatching was reported across Kogi State during the election. Officials of the Bello administration led by Onoja in Kogi East, accompanied by local government administrators, were pictured bearing arms, leading disruptive operations in many polling units. Onoja has equally been reported to have threatened to incapacitate or outrightly eliminate real or perceived opponents of Yahaya Bello, both within the APC and the leading opposition party the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, respectively, for the governorship. Sources in Government House, Lokoja have alluded to the absence of Onoja from work in the last one week. Said an authoritative source in Lugard House: ‘I can confidently tell you that Onoja was not in the office the whole of last week. We don’t know his whereabouts, but we understand it may not be unconnected with an allegation bordering on threat to life. Government House has been unusually quiet this past week.
With Onoja, it is one day, one controversy