IGP washes hands off G7 govs’ meeting disruption

From IHEANACHO NWOSU,Abuja
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday washed his hand off the recent disruption of the meeting of G7 governors at Kano Lodge  in Abuja by a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr Nnanna Ama.
The IGP said that he never directed anybody to barge into the parley of the governors even as he denied the allegation that he was bias in the  Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) crisis. Mohammed spoke when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Police investigations
into the alleged disruption of G7 governors. They areBabangida Aliyu, Abdulfatah Ahmed, Aliyu Wamakko, Sule Lamido, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Murtala Nyako and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Niger, Kwara, Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano, Adamawa and Rivers states respectively.
The House  last week ordered  the IGP  to appear before its committee over alleged police bias in the PDP crisis .
The lower chamber , in a drama-filled resolution, said Mohammed had  some  explanation to make over the role played by the DPO  in charge of Asokoro, Abuja, Mr. Ama in the meeting of the G7 governors at Kano Lodge , Asokoro. The motion was raised by Hon Idris Sani Kutigi(Niger,PDP)
Kutigi’s motion, titled: “Impunity and disregard to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ,1999 (As amended) by the Nigerian Police”,  was co-sponsored by 60 other PDP members. All the sponsors of the motion belonged to the PDP faction led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje.
The motion was triggered by the alarm raised by the governors that their meeting was disrupted by the police.
At yesterday’s session, Mohammed said he could not have asked any of his officers to go after the governors because his primary assignment is to maintain law and order in the country.
“The DPO was not sent by anybody”, Mohammed said. He explained that what transpired between the G7 governors and the DPO could not be termed disruption of meeting . According to him, the DPO , as the officer In-charge of the area, had the right to know what was going on in his domain.
The IGP said, “ he is the DPO of the area, if anything happens, he would be held responsible. He was doing his job”. He stressed that the governors’ meeting continued after their short interaction with the DPO. He wondered why the public was misled into believing that the parley was disrupted.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon Usman Kumo, said the invitation of the IGP was to ascertain the true position of the meeting. He said the police cannot afford to be bias in the PDP crisis or any issue in the country, urging Mohammed to always think about the implication of any of his action before taking it.