Troops of the Nigerian Army attached to Operation Safe Conduct, created for the 2019 General Elections, have arrested three suspected political thugs in the Ilesa area of Osun State and recovered a pistol with three cartridges.
The suspects were rounded up around 7.30am on Saturday at Iwajara Junction, Ilesa, while allegedly planning to disrupt the Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections, which were later postponed nationwide.
According to the army on Sunday, the hoodlums, whose names were not given, were on a motorcycle and armed with dangerous objects as they mobilised to visit a polling unit in the Ilesa-East Local Government Area to disrupt the elections.
Other weapons recovered from the hoodlums included one cutlass and three cartridges.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Col Sagir Musa, who confirmed the arrest, said the suspects would be handed over to the police for further interrogation and prosecution.
He said, โTroops of Operation Safe Conduct deployed to provide security for the conduct of free, fair and credible presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday intercepted three hoodlums on a motorcycle moving towards the Ilesa-East LGA to disrupt smooth conduct of elections in that area.
โThe hoodlums were arrested and they will be handed over to the police upon completion of initial profiling and investigation.โ
