More wounds are opening up in the lingering quagmire between the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris and Senator Isah Hamma Misau, APC, Bauchi Central as the latter has again raised fresh allegations against the former.
This time, Senator Isa Hamma Misau has disclosed that the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, was the mastermind of the leaked documents which exposed the President’s wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari and not him.
In a statement issued Thursday in Abuja, Senator Misau said that his comment on approval of two jeeps by the IGP for the president’s wife, was in reference to court documents filed in the charge against him by the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation.
According to him, “the said documents which form part of the proof of evidence to the charge are correspondence between the Inspector General of Police and the following: the President and C-in-C of the Federation; The Chief of Staff to the President; the Director, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies; the ADC to the Wife of. The President; and the Chief Personal Security Officer to the President.”
The Senator however accused the IGP of blackmailing the President’s wife and other high ranking personalities by deliberately and unethically exposing their correspondences.
Misau’s statement read, “it was indeed a shock to me, as am sure it is to other Nigerians to see such private and confidential documents with all the minutes of the President and other top government officials carelessly displayed in the public by the Inspector General of Police in manifest breach of official secrecy.
“The motive for displaying these documents is no doubt suspicious given that they have little or no bearing on the matter of inappropriate practices within the Police.
“My submission before the Senate Ad hoc Committee was simply to call the attention of members as well as the general public to how the IGP is unethically dropping names through filing of secret documents so as to rope these top ranking innocent personalities into the case.
“The IGP is the one who submitted the official documents mentioning the names of respected personalities, not me. I believe I need to make this clarification.”
A copy of the document filed in court by the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation, which was made available to Journalists showed that the request for a Sienna vehicle and a Toyota Hiace Bus for the first lady was indeed addressed to Ibrahim Idris and signed by the ADC to the President’s Wife, SP Sani Baba-Inna.
The request which was contained in letter which was dated January 17, 2017, was officially approved the following day by the IGP in a handwritten minute approving the purchase of two jeeps.
However, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, on Thursday said there was no truth in the claim that he received some vehicles from the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
The lawmaker representing the Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Isa Misau, had on Wednesday alleged that Idris gave two Sports Utility Vehicles to Mrs. Buhari.
While appearing before the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Investigation of Various Allegations Levelled Against the Police, the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission, Misau said details of how Idris gave Mrs. Buhari the two SUV were contained in the documents the police boss submitted to court in the suit instituted against him by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, on behalf of the Federal Government.
He said, “I still have some contract papers that the IG himself submitted to the court, where the First Lady through her aide-de-camp requested a Toyota Hiace and a Sienna jeep. The same day that the ADC wrote, the IG minuted that she should be given two jeeps. And it is not part of the appropriation. If you look at the appropriation, there is nowhere they said the First Lady should be given two jeeps.”
But Mrs. Buhari in a statement by her Director of Information, Suleiman Haruna, said there was no truth in the allegation.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to the news being widely circulated, and attributed to a member of the Senate, that two SUVs from the Inspector-General of Police were given to the Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari personally.
“The Wife of the President wants to make it clear that since the assumption of office of her husband as President of Nigeria, she did not receive these mentioned vehicles.
“Furthermore, the vehicles she is still using belong to the family and were the ones used during the campaign for 2015 elections including the one for her entourage.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has accused Sen. Misau of spreading falsehood over his allegations that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris bought two jeeps for wife of the president Aisha Buhari.
The Police spokesman CSP Jimoh Moshood in a statement on Thursday also denied allegations by Misau that the IGP rigged his official age to extend his service years in the police, which was reported by Daily Trust newspaper on Thursday.
He said, “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to publications in the Daily Trust Newspaper of 26th October, 2017, page 3 captioned “Misau Accuses IGP Of Buying 2 Jeeps For Buhari’s Wife” and “IGP Idris Manipulated His Retirement Age, Says Misau” on Page 3 of The Nation of October 26th 2017” credited to Senator Isa Hamma Misau and written by Ismail Mudashir and Onyedi Ojiabor of Daily Trust and Nation Newspapers respectively.”
He said the two reports were studied and found out to be an outright falsehood, misleading, unfounded, a deliberate attempt to misinform the public and drag the name of the Wife of the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs Aishat Buhari and that of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris into a controversy.
He added that, “It is pertinent to state that at no time did the Wife of the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs Aishat Buhari requested directly or indirectly for vehicles for her use from the Inspector General of Police and no vehicle whether Jeep or SUV has ever been given for her personal use.”
He explained that, “To set the record straight and disabuse the minds of the public most especially those who must have read the story, that the Inspector General of Police is empowered by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the Police Act and Regulations, precisely Section 215 (1)(a&b) and (2) “The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector General Police“ and the Deployment and Control of the entire Operations of the Force including allocation of Police vehicles for operational use throughout the country shall be under the purview of the IGP.”
He said “it is within the powers of the Inspector General of Police as stated above that when on the 17th January, 2017, SP Sani M Baba –Inna, the ADC “Wife of the President” Federal Republic of Nigeria requested for Two (2) vehicles for Police Personnel in the convoy of Wife of the President for convoy movement and security purposes.”
“Two Police Vehicles A Toyota Sienna Bus with Reg. No. NPF 2406D; A Toyota Hiace Bus with Reg. No. NPF 3363D were approved by the Inspector General of Police to the ADC “Wife of the President” SP Sani M Baba –Inna for the purposes requested and not to the person of the Wife of the President or for her personal use as alleged by Misau.
He added that, “The Nigeria Police Force categorically wishes to state that all the allegations made by Misau against the Inspector General of Police and the Wife of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria of buying two Jeeps for the Wife of the Presidents as reported in some media are baseless, untrue and done in bad faith to misinform and mislead the Public. Members of the Public are hereby strongly enjoined to discountenance and disregard the report in its entirety.
He also said, “On IGP’s retirement age, Misau’s allegations were ill-motive, for avoidance of doubt, the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Force Secretary Office wrote the Chairman, Police Service Commission on the 18th of January, 2017 drawing the attention of the Commission to the observation on the current Staff List of Senior Police Officers whereby the date of birth of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, NPM, mni was incorrectly stated as 3/01/1959 instead of the actual date 15/01/1959.”
“All documents and records of the IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, NPM, mni has 15/01/1959 as his date of birth except the staff list Senior Police Officers and this is the reason why the approval of the Honourable Chairman, Police Service Commission for correction of the error was sought in this regard.
Moshood said, the difference of dates between 3/01/1959 and 15/01/1959 is just Twelve days which is very insignificant in Thirty Five years that a public servant can be in service.
