One person has been arrested by the operatives of the Edo State Police Command in connection with the attack on Governor Godwin Obaseki’s convoy by members of Esan Youth Movement.
The suspect Benson Ordia, who was said to have been arrested in Igueben council area of the state, is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the command in Benin City for interrogation.
Police have stepped up the manhunt for other members of the group still at large.
Obaseki, who was said to have been peeved over the attack, had requested the police to get to the root of the incident when it was discovered that the attackers, who claimed to be APC youths, were really not members of the party.
Government House sources in Benin said the governor was embarrassed and angry that the youths, who adorned T-shirts, were out to disrupt a meeting they were never invited to.
Obaseki and other top government officials were said to be unhappy that none of the leaders from the senatorial district in attendance at the town hall meeting could raise a voice against the action of the youths nor speak in defense of the government during the attack on the governor and his convoy.
Reacting to the arrest, the chairman of the APC in Edo State, Anselm Ojezua, said: “Every criminal act will have repercussions; police will carry out a thorough investigation and prosecute accordingly.”
Youths, on the platform of Esan Youth Movement, had on Monday stormed the venue of a town hall meeting between leaders of the APC in Edo Central senatorial district and Obaseki.
They demanded that the government should address them but they were told that the parley was specifically for the leaders of the party.
This infuriated the youths, who pelted the governor’s convoy with sachets of water, which was roundly condemned by the leadership of the APC and the state government.