PDP crisis: I didn't order disruption of G7 governors' confab – Police IG
The Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, has denied asking a Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Mr. Nnanna Amah, to disrupt the meeting of seven aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abuja.
Abubakar told the House of Representatives' Committee on Police Affairs investigating the matter that he did not order anybody to interrupt the meeting of the governors.
The IG also denied allegations that he was partisan in the crisis rocking the PDP. The lawmakers had last week ordered Abubakar to appear before the committee over alleged partisanship of the police in the party.
The House in its resolution said the IG had to explain the role played by the DPO in charge of Asokoro, Abuja, in disrupting the meeting of the G7 governors at the Kano Lodge in the FCT The motion,raised by Hon. IdrisSaniKutigi (Niger,PDP), and entitled 'Impunity and disregard to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) by the Nigerian police' was cosponsored by 60 other PDP members.
All the sponsors of the motion belonged to the PDP faction led by Abubakar Baraje. The motion was triggered by the alarm raised by the governors that their meeting was disrupted by police authorities.
At yesterday's session, Mohammed said he could not have asked any of his officers to go after the G7 governors because his primary assignment was to maintain law and order in the country. 'The DPO was not sent by anybody,' Abubakar said.
The police boss, however, explained that what transpired between the G7 governors and the DPO could not be termed disruption of meeting. He said that the DPO, as the officer in charge of the area, had the right to know what was going on in his domain. The IG 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 and wondered why the public was misled into believing that the meeting was disrupted. Chairman of the Committee, Hon. UsmanKumo (PDP-Gombe) said the police could not afford to be biased in the PDP crisis or any issue in the country.
He urged Abubakar to always think about the implication of his actions before taking it. DPO Amah had on Sunday November 3 invaded the meeting of the rebel governors.
Sunday's disruption of the meeting of the G7 governors was the latest in the series of police invasion of the meetings of the aggrieved governors and the new PDP. About 30 minutes into the meeting, the DPO of Asokoro police station, entered the Kano Governor's Lodge, claiming that he had instruction to stop the meeting.
When the governors apparently got wind that the DPO was outside, they asked him to be brought into the meeting hall. About 10 minutes after, the DPO, CSP Ama, left the meeting venue, after he was briefed about the private nature of the meeting.
At the meeting were: the chairman of the new PDP, Abubakar Baraje, the governors of Niger, Rivers, Jigawa, Adamawa and Kano states, Babangida Aliyu, Rotimi Amaechi, Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako and Rabiu Kwankwaso respectively; the party secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Alhaji Kashim Imam, Senators Aisha Alassan, Danjuma Goje, Abdullahi Adamu, Bukola Saraki, former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, Sam Sam Jaja, former governor of Ekiti, Chief Segun Oni and the National Vice-Chairman of the PDP, North West, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazaure.
The first sign of the war of attrition against the new PDP emerged on September 7, when the headquarters of the new PDP at Number 4, Oyi Street, Off Ibrahim Babangida Way, Maitama District, Abuja, was sealed off by the Police, following a court order. - National Mirror.