Our correspondent gathered that Akpevwe had allegedly made a confessional statement to the Police that his lawmaker brother gave him the gun and Sienna vehicle carrying the official number plate of the state House of Assembly with which he had gone to attack the apex bank branch in Asaba, before he was caught.
For attempting to break into the Asaba branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with firearms and cart away sensitive electoral materials belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Police in Delta State have arraigned the younger brother of Chief Peter Okagbare Uviejitobor, the member representing Udu Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Police in Delta State on Wednesday arraigned one Akpevwe, a younger brother to Uviejitobor, for illegal possession of firearms.
He was arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Asaba, the Delta State capital, alongside two other suspects identified as Alfred Joseph and David Ukiri, all from Udu Local Government Area of the state for the same offence.
The three suspects, SaharaReporters reliably gathered, were caught with firearms last week by Police detectives at the Asaba branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), where INEC had kept sensitive electoral materials for onward distribution to the various LGAs in the state.
Our correspondent gathered that Akpevwe had allegedly made a confessional statement to the Police that his lawmaker brother gave him the gun and Sienna vehicle carrying the official number plate of the state House of Assembly with which he had gone to attack the apex bank branch in Asaba, before he was caught.
It was also learnt that the suspects, who claimed to be members of the Udu Vigilante Group, were said to have also been detailed by the local government chairman to ensure safety of electoral materials for the council before their arrest.
In a statement obtained by SaharaReporters confirming the arraignment of the suspects, Chuks Oresewezie, the Delta State acting Police Public Relations Officer, said the decision to arraign the suspects was to serve as deterrent to vigilante members diving into security and electoral matters in the state.
The statement read: “The three suspects were today (Wednesday) arraigned at Chief Magistrate Court, Asaba, to serve as a deterrent to who would be offenders and as well as to inform members of the public that the sole responsibility of securing INEC materials, INEC offices/officials, polling units, collation centres, rests squarely on the Police in collaboration with other approved security agencies as mentioned in the earlier press release.
“The Police authority will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute any offender according to the law, while assuring members of the public of its commitment to the security and safety.”