The police in Lokoja have confirmed the arrest of nine members of the Kogi State Vigilante Service for allegedly torturing a man to death in Ofabo Egabenebe community in Ofu Local Government area of the state.
The state police command Spokesman, DSP William Aya, who confirmed the arrests, told newsmen on Tuesday that the victim was tortured to death on Monday.
Those arrested, according to Aya, included the head of the vigilante service and his second-in-command.
He said that the victim met his untimely death when a businessman in the community, who accused him of stealing items worth N200, 000 from his shop, reported him to the members of the vigilance service in the community.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the head of the vigilance service, his deputy along with six other members of the group were said to have taken on the victim immediately.
The victim was said to have been brutally tortured, with a hammer and other items by the security men, who later hit him on the head in an attempt to obtain information from him.
In the process, the victim was said to have slumped and died on the spot.
Youths of the community, who got wind of the sad event, immediately embarked on protests, during which the three shops belonging to the man who accused the victim of stealing his N200,000 were set ablaze.
Aya said that investigations into the incident had commenced, adding, however, that normalcy had since been restored to the community.