The Nasarawa State Police Command has arrested two government officials for violating the proclamation on the restriction of public and social gathering order in the state by Governor Abdullahi Sule.
The apprehended officials are the Overseer of Lafia North Development Area, Suleman Agyo and the Acting Registrar of Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic, Lafia, Mukhtar Wakeel.
The duo was seen at a wedding ceremony of the Overseer who took a second wife in an elaborate ceremony in Lungun Wambai in Lafia, the state capital.
A police source said the wedding which went viral, prompted the police to arrest the bridegroom, Agyo and his friend, Wakeel who featured in the video prominently.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that the overseer had on Saturday, April 11, 2020, married a second wife in a lavish and well-attended ceremony amid strict COVID-19 lockdown where the registrar represented the Polytechnic community.
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Also on trial are the National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North Central zone, Sulieman Wambai and the overseer of Lafia East Development Area, Shuaibu Buba who also attended the marriage ceremony against the state government’s order. These are said to be on the run.
Agyo was a lecturer at the state polytechnic before he ventured into politics and become the overseer of the Lafia North Development Area.
The two officials who spent a whole night in police detention are to be charged to court for the prosecution to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to disobey government directives.
The officer in charge of CID in Lafia, who did not want his name mentioned because he is not authorized to speak, said the action of the two government officials violated movement restriction order put in place by the state government to curb the spread of coronavirus in the state where the gathering of more than 20 people has been banned.
It was also gathered that all efforts to get in touch with the governor to direct their release failed as the governor is said to have insisted that the law must take its course.
Governor Sule had suspended all marriage and naming ceremonies in addition to banning all social gatherings in the state.
“Where it has become necessary to hold such ceremonies, attendance should be restricted to members of the immediate families of not more than 20 people,” the governor had directed.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulkarim Kana, confirmed the arrest.
According to him, “the proclamation by the governor is binding on everybody, no matter how highly placed one is in society.
“The violators would continue to be in detention, they would be charged to court immediately the courts resume sitting.”
The state commissioner of police, Bola Longe who confirmed the arrest while speaking with journalists in his official residence in Lafia on Sunday said the two officials would be prosecuted for violating the social distancing order of the state government.
He said that the police are working hard to arrest all those who attended the marriage ceremony as identified in the wedding pictures for prosecution.
