‎Edo Poll: 9 arrested for alleged impersonation

Security operatives in Benin, Edo State, have arrested nine persons, including a military officer said to be on AWOL (Absent Without Leave), for alleged impersonation.

The suspects who are currently being detained in the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS), in Benin, were arrested in a joint operation by operatives of the Nigerian Army, DSS and the Police, at a hotel in Benin City, after a tip off.

They allegedly claimed to be journalists who came to cover the September 28 governorship election in the state.‎

The military officer among them who has been on the wanted list of the Army in the past one year for a yet to be ascertained offence, was arrested with different types of identification cards, including military ID cards.

Some politicians, it was alleged, made several attempts to secure their bail, claiming that they were journalists, but security operatives insisted that they were not journalists since none of them has been identified by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), or provide any evidence that they were journalists.‎