Police seal off Dino Melaye’s anti-corruption conference

Only the conference room of the hotel was sealed-off.

Scores of armed police officers, on Tuesday sealed off a Nicon Luxury hotel conference room where an anti-corruption conference was planned.
The anti-corruption conference was planned by an organization promoted by former House of Representatives member turned anti-corruption campaigner, Dino Melaye.
The police arrived in the early hours of the day with combat officers, including anti-terrorism squads, to carry out the seal-off of only the conference room the anti-corruption campaigners rented for the conference.
It is still unclear why the conference room was sealed. The police authority responsible for Abuja, the FCT Command, denied ordering the operation.

"I am not aware of it," the spokesperson of the command, Altine Daniel, said.
But Mr. Melaye believes the seal-off was ordered by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.
"The hotel management said the police officers brought an order from the IG," he said.
The spokesperson of the Nigeria Police headquarters, Frank Mba, is yet to respond to inquiries.

"We will never give up, the conference must go on," Mr. Melaye said.
"We already know that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back."
The former lawmaker has, recently, had a recurring battle with the police over anti-corruption protests including that organised to demand the removal and prosecution of Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, over the N255 million armoured car scandal. Mr. Melaye was briefly arrested, then released, during the protest.