The Nigeria Police, on Saturday, again tackled the Senate over its insistence that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, must personally appear before it over the security situation in the country.
In a statement in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, ACP Jimoh Moshood, the police faulted the fresh claim by the Senate that the police boss was being invited to brief it on killings going on in some parts of the country, saying that it was after-thought.
According to police: “The release of the purported list of killings in Nigeria in 2018 by the Office of the Senate President is shocking, unfortunate and capable of worsening the security situation in the country. It is mischievous and heinous to play politics with people’s lives; even if it is a soul. The release is speculative and not supported by any fact. The Office of the Senate President does not receive or process security report from State commands.
“The recent claim by the Senate that the reason for inviting the IGP is to brief them on the recent killings in some part of the Country is an afterthought which can be seen from the headings of their invitation letters.”
The statement read: “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to media publication credited to one Senator Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi, chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs that “The IGP should stop holding on to the straw on why he refused to comply with the invitation of the Senate for him to come and explain what the Police are doing on the spate of killing across the country.
“The incidents of killings in some part of the country are being addressed by the Nigeria Police Force and other security and safety agencies in the Nation.
“While normalcy have been restored in most of the affected areas, hundreds of suspects directly responsible for these dastardly acts have been arrested and are being prosecuted in the affected states.”
The police maintained that the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Department of Operations, who was delegated by the IGP had been given the briefs on the security situation in the country but he was not allowed to address the Senate.
“In any case, if the Senate is sincerely interested in knowing the strategies adopted by the police in tackling the killings in the affected States, they would not have invited the IGP to speak on the strategies of the Force on national television.
“The Senate’s action to cover the appearance of the IGP on national television is against national security, unconventional and it negates global security practice. There is nowhere in the world where security matters are discussed on national television, even the Senate deliberation and decision on the appearance of the IGP were done in close session,” the police stated.
The police accused the Senate of trying to use the invitation on killings to disguise its real intention, which was to invite the IGP “because of Senator Dino Melaye’s criminal indictment in respect of felonious and serious offences of criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms by two (2) principal suspects (Kabiru Seidu a.k.a OSAMA, Nuhu Salisu a.k.a SMALL) arrested for several cases of kidnapping and armed robbery in Kogi State, who are already standing trial in a court of competent jurisdiction.”
Tribune
