IGP incurs senates wrath, gets vote of no confidence
News & Trends •
abaribe said i want to agree with some of our colleagues who have said that we should go into a close door session and agree whether we will accept this insult or not1 the inspector general of police mr ibrahim idris on wednesday incurred the wrath of the senate as the lawmakers unanimously passed a vote of no confidence on him1 idris had on first invitation sent a deputy inspector general of police to represent him but the senate refused to honour the dig1 the senate took the decision on wednesday after about an hour of closed door session1 the president of the senate bukola saraki announced the decision of the senate during plenary1 the senate in a closed session deliberated on the non-appearance of the igp to the senate in plenary after series of invitation1 the senate noted that this amounted to a great disrespect to the institution and constituted authority1 the senate also notes that his earlier refusal to appear before its investigative committee was overruled by a court of competent jurisdiction just in april of this year1 the senate therefore views his persistent refusal as a great danger to our democracy1 therefore the senate resolved to declare the igp as an enemy of our democracy and not fit to hold any public office within and outside nigeria1 the leadership of the senate was also mandated to look into the matter for further necessary action1 earlier sen. enyinnaya abaribeabia-apc condemned the action of the igp saying it was a disrespect for the legislature1 democracies die and it dies in two ways. it either dies abruptly or in bits and what is happening today in nigeria is that democracy is dying in bits1 it dies when people abuse governmental powers and all that we have seen today with the conduct of the chief law officer of the federation is nothing but an abuse of power1 he has no respect for this institution and that is now a fact. there is actually no way we can dress it to say we should give him some more time1 we can say that what he is doing is anything but an abuse of this institution the federation and himself even in the eyes of the international community1 this morning i watched someone who was a police officer in britain and what he said was germaine to what we are saying here1 he said if the chief law officer cannot obey the law of the land how do you now say to other people who are miscreants should obey the law he said1 according to him unless a concrete decision is taken by the senate the disrespect for the national assembly would become widespread1 the senators were angry because idris had personally refused to appear on invitation to answer questions concerning the arrest and issues surrounding senator dino melaye1 i want to appeal to us to remember that if you do not deal with this abuse of power all of us are going to regret it because there is nothing to stop anybody else from doing what it likes in this country he said1 the leader of the senate ahmed lawan said he made efforts to reach the igp for 48 hours but was not successful1 personally i made attempts to call his line and i sent text messages that he should call me as soon as he was able to see my messages1 clearly the ig is not here. i think this is very unusual and very unfortunate1 i personally feel that public officers should do what is in the interest of the public and where any public officer cannot do what is in the interest of the public there is no need for such an officer to continue to occupy that kind of position1 this institution is now at a crossroad on this. i believe that a decision has to be taken on the way forward1 i do not think it will make any further sense to continue to extend invitation until the senate takes a different decision to make the situation better he said1 sen. emmanuel bwachapdp-taraba said it was a sad moment for democracy1 he added that the igps action was inexcusable unacceptable and condemnable1 he called for immediate action to protect the institution of the national assembly1 this senate needs to take very serious action on the way forward. we cannot stand this embarrassment any longer1 i will suggest we have a closed session. i am moving for us to executive session to take very serious consideration on this matter. this is a national disgrace. isah missau.apc-bauchi said the igps action was not just disrespect for the parliament but also the president of the country who appointed him.1 he said i recall i made mention that there is problem with the leadership of the police1 on official capacity there is no any person here that is not bigger than the ig constitutionally. anybody here can invite the ig officially because by the constitution every senator is bigger than the office of the ig1 what the ig is doing is not against the senate it is against the president of the federal republic of nigeria because he is the leader today of this country1 if an appointee of the president will refuse to honour invitation of an institution it is unfortunate1 i think it is left for this government to decide if they have an appointee that will rubbish the image of the country1 i think it is much unfortunate and we will have to do something the image of the president the image of country and the image of our democratic environment that is the institution of the parliament he said.nan1