These are not the best of times for Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris as the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating allegations of abuse of office against him has threatened to issue his arrest warrant.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris
The Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Sen. Francis Alimikhena, issued the threat when the IGP failed to appear before the committee on Wednesday 1st November, 2017: “The IGP was summoned on Oct. 16 to answer allegations made against him by Sen. Isah Misau (APC-Bauchi).”
“Rather than honour the invitation, his lawyer, Alex Iziyon, wrote to the committee informing it that the matter was already in court. Nobody, including court, can stop the Senate from carrying out its constitutional duties. The separation of powers guaranteed by law, made it explicit that the Senate cannot be prevented in carrying out its constitutional duties by any other arm of government.”
“If the IGP fails to appear on Nov. 7, the committee would invoke Section 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to compel him to appear. He will be summoned again and must appear next Tuesday, 7th of November. We got a letter from his lawyer, Alex Iziyon that he will not appear before this committee. He said the IGP has already gone to court and appearing will be subjudice.”
“There was no way the IGP’s appearance before the committee would amount to contempt as committee was set up before he went to court. We cannot be stopped. No court can stop us from carrying out our duties. There is separation of powers. No court can stop us.”
“There are issues about virement in the 2017 budget which Misau also raised. We need him to respond to these allegations. We will invite him again and he will appear before us. If he fails to appear, we will invoke Section 89 of the 1999 constitution, as amended.”