Police stop anti-corruption forum in Abuja

The two-day colloquium was organised by the Anti-Corruption Network, which has been campaigning for the removal of the Aviation Minister over the bullet-proof cars scandal.A police detachment led by an assistant commissioner of police whose identity was not immediately clear went to the NICON Luxury Hotel andasked its officials not to allow the conference to […]

The two-day colloquium was organised by the Anti-Corruption Network, which has been campaigning for the removal of the Aviation Minister over the bullet-proof cars scandal.
A police detachment led by an assistant commissioner of police whose identity was not immediately clear went to the NICON Luxury Hotel andasked its officials not to allow the conference to hold, the organisers said.
Those scheduled to attend the event included former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senate President David Mark to be represented by Senator Victor Lar, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, whose protocol officers were seen at the venue though his spokesman said he had not planned to attend.
Organiser of the conference and executive-secretary of the Anti-Corruption Network, Mr. Dino Melaye, told journalists yesterday that just when the conference was to begin, the police asked the hotel not to allow the meeting to go on.
“We were here throughout last night (Monday) in preparation for today’s (yesterday’s) programme. We have made payment for the venue and the feeding,” he said.
“This morning (yesterday), we came over to open the hall and the management of the hotel briefed us that there is an order from the IGP stopping the programme.”
But when contacted, spokesman for the Police Force Headquarters Frank Mbah said, “To the best of my knowledge, no such order emanated from the IGP.”
When our reporter approached the hotel staff, one of them said they had already briefed Melaye and so would not make further comments.
Also scheduled to attend the event were former Kaduna State governor Balarabe Musa, senior lawyer Femi Falana, deputy national secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Nasir el-Rufai, Chief Audu Ogbeh, as well as representatives of the Minister of Justice and chairmen of anti-corruption commissions.
Guests from the United Kingdom, United States and South Africa were also scheduled to attend.
“I have two letters here acknowledged by the office of the IGP, where we told them to send 20 participants,” Melaye said yesterday.
“The theme of the colloquium is ‘Demystifying the Complexities of FOI and How to Empower the People’. We invited all the security agencies. It is outrageous and laughable for an event involving even the government.
“I don’t know what to say. Nigeria is now a police state? What we are doing is in the interest of Nigeria. We are here to enlighten Nigerians. I don’t know what the IGP and this government is afraid of.”
Alhaji Balarabe Musa, for his part, said the action of the police was shameful.
“All the relevant people in government have been invited and most of them have indicated their intention to be here. The conclusion we can get from this is that the president himself must have ordered that this event must not take place,” Musa said.
“Since the government cannot justify that this campaign against corruption, this is just a cover-up, the only thing they can do is to ensure that a function like this which will expose the level of corruption in this country does not hold.”
Melaye has recently been having running battles with the police over his anti-corruption protests including the last one held to demand the removal and prosecution of Aviation Minister Stella Oduah over the controversial N255 million bullet-proof cars purchase. He was briefly detained during that protest.
When contacted, a spokesman for Tambuwal said he was not aware that the speaker was to attend the conference.
“It wasn’t part of the speaker’s schedule for yesterday. Maybe they just went and put his name there, but he wasn’t aware,” said Imam Imam, media adviser to the speaker.
The police action yesterday came just a week after a similar episode where a police officer attempted to abort a meeting of governors in the breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.
Weeks earlier, the police sealed off the headquarters of the PDP faction in Abuja, and authorities later marked the building for demolition on the grounds that it was being used in a way that broke urban planning regulations.