Police in Niger have arrested three persons in connection with the recent boat mishap in Bangi in which three top government functionaries lost their lives.

Police commissioner, Paul Iseghohi, told newsmen last Wednesday in Minna, the state capital that the state Assembly man, Usman Musa, identified the suspects as among those who molested him minutes before the incident.

The commissioner said the suspects were helping the police in their investigation to unravel persons behind the act and bring them to book.

He said Musa, representing Mariga constituency, also volunteered more information about the suspected actors of the tragic incident to the police and promised to follow such leads in the case.

The late state lawmaker, Usman Bahago-Nasko, representing Magama Constituency in the Assembly, was said to have been mistaken for Musa, who wore the same dress with him.

The suspects were believed to have been responsible for the capsizing of the boat in Bangi, headquarters of Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State. Two others that died in the incident were the Principal Private Secretary to the governor, late Datti Mu'azu and late Isah Lapai, special assistant to the governor on mobilisation.

Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who escaped death on the trip, described the incident as a deliberate act, intended to kill Musa by his political opponents.

The governor and his entourage, who were on a people's forum known as ''Jama'a forum'' and inauguration of health facilities in Bangi, travelled by boat following flooding of the community.

Two of the three boats used by the governor's entourage capsized, leading to death of the three officials while nine others were rescued.