N/Assembly siege: Senate report clears IGP, Mbu

Also cleared by the Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi’s committee is the former Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 7 Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu.However, the panel indicted the Federal Capital Police Commissioner Mr.  Wilson Inalegwu, and the National Assembly Divisional Police Officer Mr. James Idachaba.Armed and hooded police officers had laid siege on […]

Also cleared by the Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi’s committee is the former Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 7 Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu.
However, the panel indicted the Federal Capital Police Commissioner Mr.  Wilson Inalegwu, and the National Assembly Divisional Police Officer Mr. James Idachaba.
Armed and hooded police officers had laid siege on the National Assembly complex locking out and teargasing Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and dozens of legislators.
The siege was believed to have been perfected ostensibly to stop Tambuwal from presiding over the House session after he reconvened the House from recess to consider the state of emergency extension request in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Tambuwal, who had in October defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), called back the House after receiving the request from the president.
Appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs few days after, Inspector General of Police Mr. Suleiman Abba refused to recognize Tambuwal as House Speaker insisting that the matter was of his defection was pending in court.
The IGP had also accused the Speaker of leading motley crowd of thugs to the National Assembly which according to him, led to the security siege.
Many legislators believed that the IGP must have ordered the deployment of police officers to execute the operation on that day.
A week later, the Senate raised a panel under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna), to probe the incident. The committee tabled its report to the Senate last week.
During the hearing, the FCT Police boss had taken the blame for the invasion arguing that he acted based on intelligence report received from the DPO, Mr. Idachaba.
A copy of the report seen by Daily Trust indicates that, the committee indicted a number of senior police officers and that the Police Service Commission which is already investigating the matter should penalize any officer found wanting over the incident.
Senator Makarfi and his colleagues also called for the amendment of the Legislative Houses Powers and Privileges Act to allow the Sergeant-At-Arms to bear arms in order to protect the legislature from any such invasion in the future.
The panel also recommended for the removal of police officers from the parliament and the empowering of the Sergeant-At-Arms to take charge of the security of the complex.
In the same vein, the panel recommended that before the Sergeant-At-Arms are trained and equipped, police officers attached to the National Assembly should be well-equip to repel any security breach in the future.
The FCT police Mr. Wilson Inalegwu who according to the committee took responsibility for the unfortunate incident, has ostensibly exonerated the Inspector General of Police Suleiman Abba and the then Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge of Zone 7 Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu. The senate is yet to deliberate on the report.