15th May, 2018
PRESS RELEASE:
SENATE
SHOULD LEAVE POLICE IG ALONE
The
Nigerian Senate recently declared the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum, ‘an enemy of democracy’ over the
latter’s refusal to honour its invitation.
The
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is not a little disturbed by Senate’s attitude in
recent times. It is combative, reckless and lawless.
What, in Allah’s name, do we call the
list of violent killings in the country which was allegedly published yesterday
by Senate? It is nauseating and that is to say the least. Is Senate making a
case of inefficiency against the IG? Has Senate forgotten that no country is
free of crime? Is Senate unaware of horror killings and massacres even in
advanced countries like the United States of America, Germany and Britain?
Senate
could have done better if it had balanced it objectively by supplying a list of
achievements of the Nigerian Police. What if the police now decide to draw its
own list of achievements? Nigerians will then have two public agencies working
at cross-purposes courtesy of an overbearing Senate. Is that responsible? Is it
wise? Is it patriotic? Does it portray Senate members as a serious bunch?
Let
us jog Senate’s memory with a few achievements of the Nigerian Police in recent
times. The arrest of big time criminals like Evans the kidnap kingpin; the Offa
dare-devil armed robbers who killed 17 people in a single operation; Ibrahim
Umar who confessed that he used to drink the blood of kidnapped victims and
Niger State kidnap specialist Matarari Saidu.
Just yesterday, 14th May,
2018, police nabbed Barau Ibrahim a.k.a. Rambo, touted to be one of the most
wanted kidnappers who also dabbles into armed robbery and assassination. Rambo
was notorious for terrorizing Birnin Gwari axis of Kaduna State,
Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway and Zamfara State. But what do the police get from
Senate for all these? Disdain, humiliation, intimidation and even more. How do
you expect the citizens to respect the police and repose confidence in them if
you, our lawmakers, treat them like errand boys?
Even
if we did not see all the above achievements of the police, at least one case
was reported by MURIC headquarters in 2017 and we still marvel at the speed
with which the police handled the matter. A luxurious bus in which a female youth
corper and member of MURIC serving in the North was ordered to stop by hoodlums
between Abuja and Kogi states. The driver was shot dead for refusing to stop.
The spare driver took over the wheels and was able to park safely at a
distance.
The
occupants spilled into the bush and from there our member put a call to us at
12 midnight. We called a commissioner of police who requested for the corper’s
number. Within 30 minutes, police had surrounded the location and we soon
received a call from the Abuja Police Commissioner who assured us that the
corper was now safe in a police van.
The Nigerian Police is a reliable
police force. Give them modern weapons, vehicles, communication gadgets, a good
salary, a motivative welfare package and they will perform wonders. The
Nigerian Police which has just a little over 317,000 men is protecting more
than 193 million Nigerians when global best practices is one policeman to every
500 civilians. Some of them buy their own shoes and uniforms. They are poorly
equipped, overwhelmed, overworked but underpaid. At least they do not enjoy the
luxury of taking home N13.5 million every month (or is it really N29 million?).
Senate
should be promoting the interest of policemen if indeed our senators know their
duties. They should fight for police welfare. Every Egyptian policeman had a
pistol and a walkie-talkie even as far back as 1975 whereas it is a whole
police station that manages a single walkie-talkie in the Nigeria of 2018. This
is a big shame but our lawmakers care less. Yet it is the same policemen they
want to ridicule who are guarding them day and night. Can’t our lawmakers be
grateful for once?
Senate
should leave the IG of police alone. Let the man concentrate on his job. Respect
begets respect but Senate has no modicum of respect for other arms of
government. What happened to the principle of separation of powers? Senate appears
to be harbouring overambitious elements in the red chamber.
MURIC gives kudos to the IG of police
for resisting Senate’s impetuous maneuvers. He has proved that he is a seasoned
professional. Nigeria needs men like him who will not start shivering because lawmakers
are barking orders at them. It is true that uniformed men should submit to
civilian authority in a democracy but that is when the civilian authority
issues legitimate orders. Our uniformed men should always resist ego-induced,
illegitimate and unlawful directives.
This
Senate is in the habit of intimidating public figures with its irrational
invitations. Yet some of those invitations are not in the interest of the
tax-payer. Customs’ boss Ahmadu Ali was similarly harassed. He attended Senate
but was ordered to appear in customs uniform which he rightly challenged and to
date Senate has not been able to do anything about it. Of what benefit was
Senate’s order to the hoi polloi?
All
these boil down to the fact that Senate does not know its limits. Senate is
overreaching its powers. The red chamber is overbearing, arrogant. Nigerians
are witnessing parliamentary tyranny. It is nothing short of the dictatorship
of an oligarchy.
Instead of facing its work squarely, Senate
is obstructing the executive arm of government. About seven months after receiving
the budget, Senate is yet to pass it. Is the red chamber just a place for
taking naps? With all sense of responsibility, we fully endorse Professor Sagay’s
description of Senate as the worst in the history of Nigeria.
If
members of Senate are not on jolly rides to the tribunal for an hocus pocus,
they are in the National Hospital, Abuja, for a comedy. Is this why we voted
for you? Is this how you are representing us? Who did this to Nigeria? Who gave
us court jesters? If we had known, we would have gone to Nollywood to pick the
best actors and actresses as our lawmakers. At least then we would know what to
expect.
To
add salt to injury, our senators acted scene V of the Mother of All Mockeries
when the Senate President donned his stethoscope to dramatise a checkup of
Senator Dino Milaye on hospital bed. Is Saraki telling us that the doctors
attending to Dino Melaye are unqualified or inexperienced? Our humble
suggestion is that Saraki should move to the National Hospital, Abuja, to take
over the duties of the Chief Medical Officer in order to personally attend to
his anointed senator with whom he is well pleased. Senate has been turned into
a huge theater where the senate president is the major dramatis personae.
To cut a long story short, Senate
should leave the IG alone, stop playing the enfant terrible with the executive
arm, desist from obstructing the cause of justice, migrate from Nollywood and
face its real duty of legislating.
Professor
Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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