Popular Yoruba actress, Mercy Aigbe, was on Wednesday arrested by heavily armed policemen at the Olaiya Junction area of Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
A witness told our correspondent that the policemen fired three gunshots into the air before whisking the actress and her brother, who drove her in a Honda Accord car away to an unknown place.
It was not clear why the police team arrested her, but our correspondent gathered that the policemen were on a stop-and-search when they saw a police cap on the dashboard of Aigbe’s car.
Another witness said the police arrested the actress’ brother because he dressed like ‘yahoo boys.’
The actress was reportedly blocked at the popular Olaiya Junction by a police patrol van which had been trailing her car from Okefia area.
Angered by the effrontery of the police to block her, the actress was said to have flared up and insulted the policemen, who seized her mobile phone.
The actress, whose husband is said to be a police officer, reportedly called him and he pleaded with the policemen to release her.
But the actress was said to have spoken harshly to the policemen and this reportedly annoyed them.
This led to an altercation and her phone was reportedly seized before some passerby pleaded with the security operatives, who gave her back the phone.
The altercation between her and the policemen attracted a huge crowd of people, some of whom wanted to beat up the policemen.
The policemen called for reinforcement to prevent the crowd from attacking them.
One of the eyewitness said at the scene that the police team which arrested her was in search of ‘yahoo boys’ and the look of a young man, who drove the actress attracted their attention as well as the police cap in the car.
The eyewitness, who identified himself as Adedeji said, “When the policemen got to the junction, they went to the parked car and ordered the driver to roll down the window of the car because it was tinted and they could not identify those in the car.
“Immediately the driver rolled the glasses down Mercy Aigbe rushed out of the car to confront the policemen. They eventually took her and the boy who drove away.”
The actress’ brother was pushed into the back of the parol van, she was allowed to remain in her car which was driven away by a policeman.
The Acting Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mr. Ajibade Egbedele, when contacted on the telephone said he had no information on the arrest.
“There is no information to that on my table. I will find out and call you back.”
He said he would find out and call back but he was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report.
