Saraki’s refusal to honour Police invitation disrespectful – Police

The Nigeria Police Force has described the Senate President’s refusal to honour its invitation as disrespectful.

The Force Spokesman, Ag. DCP Jimoh Moshood stated this during a morning show on Channels Television monitored by The Nation.

“We are treating it as a disrespect to the law and we are going to take appropriate action to ensure that he complies with the rule of law because nobody is above the law.

“The position of the law is that anybody that was alleged of an offence must make himself present.

“He has sent a written statement to the investigation team and it was not satisfactory. There are lots of grey areas that needs to be cleared and that is why he is being invited.

“The investigators have been directed to take all actions within the ambit of the law to ensure that there is compliance with the law because the bottom line is that we have a case that can stand the test of trial against the Senate President and we don’t want people to politicize criminality. He was indicted based on the confession of five principal suspects in Offa robbery,”Moshood stated.

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris wrote a letter of invitation to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki for him to clarify his involvement with five principal suspects in connection to Offa robbery.

The confessional statements made by the suspects allegedly indicted Saraki.

The Senate President was expected to report to the head of Intelligence Response Team at Guzape in Abuja on Tuesday by 8am but he didn’t show up.

Instead of honoring the invitation, the Senate President’s house was besieged by some personnel of the Force but the Police Authority said it had no hand in the blockade.

The Police also said it was investigating the matter adding that a statement has been collected from the Aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Senate President in order to ascertain what transpired.

The Police also said the blockade was a calculated attempt for it to be embarrassed adding that it was done to whip up sentiment.

The Police also said its investigation has nothing to do with defection of lawmakers at the National Assembly.

On why Saraki is being invited, Moshood said: “On the 23rd of July, an invitation was sent to him whom he acknowledged because we have reliable information that he got it. We were expecting him by 8am on Tuesday for further investigation into the Offa bank robbery where 33 people were killed.

Read Also: Saraki explains failure to honour police invitation personally

On the alleged blockade of his residence, he said: “If we were expecting him, why would we go and block him? We had no hand in the blockade and two press releases were sent from my office on Tuesday on the directive of the IGP for the public to know what actually transpired.

“We have over 170 Police Mobile Force personnel attached to National Assembly and about 40 are attached directly to the Senate President.

“Outside that, we have the Special Protection Unit that are equally attached to him, we have the ADC, the CSO. We have a lot of other Police personnel including those who are riders and drivers. So what happened on Tuesday was not a blockade by our personnel, we didn’t block the residence.

He continued: “Those seen in the picture and video were personnel that were attached to him because we don’t even use Mercedes Benz for patrol.

“We don’t have any Mercedes Benz in our fleet for patrol and in that picture, there was Mercedes-Benz vehicle. Those are the personnel attached to the convoy of the Senate President and those attached to his residence for his protection.

“We have the obligation to also protect his family. The wife has policemen attached to her, also his guest house and other houses are equally protected.

“So those seen were those attached to the Senate President but the IG concerned with public interest and the need to let Nigerians know what transpired has directed an investigation into the matter.

“The ADC was invited because he is supposed to know the whereabouts of his principal but if the ADC is in isolation, we would want to know who called for whatsoever additional Police Personnel seen there because there was no authorised deployment from FHQ or any other Formation to block his residence.

“You don’t go and block an empty house. What do we stand to gain by doing that? We have other means for which if we want the Senate President to comply with the dictates of the law, he would and he was invited and we were waiting for him.”

He added: “Whoever is the officer that used that discretion to order a blockade is attached to the Senate President and that is what we want everybody to know.

“It was circulated for the media to embarrass us. Apt to from the pictures and videos,  radio stations were also running commentary that they don’t know the whereabouts of the Senate President as at then.

“They were also saying the house of the Deputy Senate President was also blocked. They are the heads of the legislative arm of government and we have an obligation to protect them. A thorough investigation has been ordered to know who gave that directive but we strongly believe that they are among the convoy of the Senate President.

“If the whereabouts of the Senate President is not known, then the ADC has a right to exercise a discretion and if the discretion was exercised wrongly, then the Force has responsibility to discipline him and that is why he has made statement and he is being investigated.

“It is important for Nigerians to know that we don’t have hand in it. If we blocked him, he wouldn’t have appeared in the Senate but he presided over activities in the Senate.”

On whether they are working on suspicion that the Senate President arranged the blockade, Moshood said: “In the first instance, these were stage managed for the purpose of whipping up sentiment in his favour. If we were expecting him, why would we block him?”

On whether the Force is being used as an instrument to execute a political plot against the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President, Moshood said: “The NPF is not a political party.  We are Nigeria Police Force and it is enshrined in the constitution. We are not instruments in the hand of anybody and the public must know that in total, the Senate President has far more than 100 personnels attached to his house and family.”

The Police also assured that the rule of rule would prevail at the end of its investigation into the matter.

“We want him to also know that in democracy, the rule of law prevails and the supremacy of law must be adhered to.”

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