Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, has alleged that there is a plan to kill him. Melaye tweeted this shortly after the policeman attached to him were disarmed and withdrawn.
The officers were taken away after Sadiq Bello, police commissioner in the federal capital territory (FCT), arrived at Melaye’s residence hours after his men and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) laid siege to the place.
Senators who visited their colleague in solidarity were denied access to him.
Melaye alleged that the policemen who came to his house had no warrant.
“We are in a civil society. No warrant and case is in court yet this lawlessness. I’m a responsible NIGERIAN and law abiding. There is a plan to kill me and I know about it,” Melaye wrote on Twitter.
“We are not in a banana Republic. I can not be silenced. @BBCBreaking AFRICA @BBCBreaking.
“All my policemen have been taken away with their arms. One CP came and took them away. There is also a plan to set me up again. But in God I trust. Truth will always prevail.”
Last month, the police declared Melaye wanted after he was accused of supplying arms to some murder suspects, who allegedly implicated him.
The senator had denied the allegation, saying it was politically motivated.
On Monday morning, Melaye was detained at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where he said he was waiting for his flight to Morocco for an official assignment.
Sunday James, spokesman of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), had said the senator was arrested by the service’s officials “based on instruction”.
He was released some hours later.
However, after his release, some policemen and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) laid siege to his residence in the Maitama area of Abuja.
Some protesters from an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in the FCT, subsequently stormed the residence, demanding that the police officers vacate the residence of their “benefactor”.