No commitment from President to lawmakers
– Source
Olalekan Adetayo , Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met a
delegation from the Senate over the face - off
between the Senate and the Inspector- General
of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Members of the delegation were led to the
meeting that held behind closed doors inside
the President ’s office at the Presidential Villa ,
Abuja by the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan .
Other members of the team were the Chief
Whip, Olusola Adeyeye; Minority Leader,
Godswill Akpabio ; Danjuma Goje; Sam
Anyanwu ; Aliyu Wammako ; Fatima Raji- Rasaki;
and Oluremi Tinubu .
The Senate had last week Wednesday set up a
nine - member committee , to meet the President
over an allegation that the IG was trying to
implicate the President of the Senate, Bukola
Saraki .
The Senate President had during the plenary
told his colleagues that the IG had transferred
some criminal suspects undergoing
interrogation in Kwara State to Abuja to make
statements to implicate him .
At the end of the meeting , Senator Abdullahi
Adamu spoke with State House correspondents
in Hausa .
Adamu explained that the meeting was
necessitated by the allegation Saraki made
against the IG on the floor of the Senate.
He said, “ What brought about the need to meet
the President came about in the Senate last
week.
“The Senate President made some comments to
the effect that he received a call from his
governor, Abdulfatah , that some persons ,
suspected to be cultists who are undergoing
investigations in Ilorin , Kwara State , would be
transferred to Abuja and it was becoming a
problem that was why the governor intimated
him.
“That was why it was decided that we should
come, as leaders in the Assembly to hear what
is going on and if anything can be done about
it. ”
He said it was important to brief the President
and hear from him because of the frosty
relationship that had been existing between the
two arms of government .
Adamu said the situation would not have arisen
if there was a cordial relationship between the
arms of government.
The federal lawmaker said the frosty
relationship had encouraged issues that he
described as small matters to be blown out of
proportion .
“A small matter is often overblown and it
becomes a problem for everybody .
“This is the result of some unnecessary
utterances because things are not going as
expected.
“So long as suspicion and accusations continue
to exist within the minds of some people who
ordinarily shouldn ’ t have them , these things will
continue, ” he said .
Adamu said nobody needed to be told that what
was playing out was pure politics.
He admitted that the meeting with the President
should not have been necessary again with the
clarification made by the police .
“A senior police officer in Kwara had stated
that the name of the Senate President was not
mentioned.
“If that is the case, there is no need for all
these emissaries . But since we have decided
that a team should come, we have come to hear
from the President and he listened to us , ” he
said.
He, however , refused to disclose what Buhari
told them at the meeting .
The Presidency has yet to issue any statement
on the meeting as of the time of filing this
report.
No commitment from Buhari to senators on IG
– Source
However , The PUNCH learnt that the President
did not make any commitment on the fate of
the Inspector - General of Police during the
meeting he had with a Senate delegation on
Tuesday.
But a source who attended the meeting told our
correspondent on the condition of anonymity
that the President did not make a definite
pronouncement on the Senators’ specific
request .
The source said Buhari only promised them that
he would get back to them on the matter .
He explained , “The President made it clear to
them that he is committed to a cordial
relationship between the Legislature and
Executive arms of government .
“He said he would not encourage anything that
would cause friction between the arms of
government, especially as the general elections
approach .
“But on their specific demand on the IG , the
President did not make any immediate
commitment. He only told them that he would
revert to them in due course . ”
Although he did not disclose what the specific
request on the IG is , at a point during the face -
off between the IG and the Senate, the federal
lawmakers had declared the police boss unfit
to hold public office.
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