DEADLOCK AT MEETING AS IG WON’T RECOGNISE TAMBUWAL AS SPEAKER

Police chief  Suleiman Abbah finally showed up at the House of Representatives yesterday.

The Inspector-General had been invited by the House Committee on Police Affairs to shed light on the November 20 invasion of the National Assembly when Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and other members of the House were tear gassed.

The meeting was, however, ill- fated. The session, which began at 2.20pm on a tense note, ended abruptly because Abbah refused to acknowledge Tambuwal as Speaker in his speech, drawing the ire of the committee’s members.

The IGP blamed everyone except the police  for the November 20 incident.

He described the lawmakers who climbed the gate to enter the complex as “suspected hoodlums” and blamed the security beef-up at the National Assembly on that day on the Salvation Rally by the All Progressives Congress (APC) a day before that.

Abbah said because of the “suspected hoodlums” who followed “Alhaji Tambuwal” into the complex, a tear gas canister “exploded” and the incident “is being investigated”.

His words: “To what Mr. Chairman called the locking of gates of the National Assembly as well as the tear gassing of members of the Assembly, among the background of the deployment, perhaps there’s  need to understand  why the deployment was made that day…additional deployment because the National Assembly has always been working with police officers as provided in the National Assembly standard security operational procedure. And that will also answer the question of wether we shared the intelligence or we informed any of the officers (at the National Assembly) at all.

“On the 19th of November 2014, members of a political party, including their leadership as well as aspirants and a serving governor conducted a rally at the Eagle Square after which they proceeded to the headquarters of the Police, blocked it and made many uncomplimentary statements; among which was of concern to us was the fact that  what they were doing  was just a tip of the iceberg of what they would be doing subsequent days, promising to come back on the 20th to continue with the procession and with the blockade of the Police Headquarters, and even promising to extend same to other areas including the National Assembly and the headquarters of INEC.”

He said “credible” intelligence made available to the police showed that the National Assembly’s security is going to be breached on the 20th and he subsequently gave instructions to secure the NASS, INEC and the Villa.

He said all went well “until when that was disrupted at the arrival of Alhaji Tambuwal”. “With the disruption of that arrangement at the first gate by quite a number of suspected thugs, the gate was not only closed but a reinforcement was made.

“As for the question of tear gas, yes, the circumstance is being investigated. We saw how the gate was compromised by suspected thugs who scaled the gates.”

According to Abba, this caused the gas canister to explode.

But members were angry when the IGP continuously referred to the Speaker as “Alhaji Tambuwal”. They expressed disdain with the manner the IGP was disrespecting the Speaker.

The chairman and members insisted that Abbah recognise Tambuwal as Speaker, but the IGP said he would not as the case was in court and addressing Tambuwal as “Speaker” would be “subjudice”.

Hon. Hakeem Muniru (APC Lagos) insisted that “the IGP must retract his statement, calling the speaker ‘Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal’ or I take my leave as I would deem this sitting as an illegal one. Because I can’t participate in a hearing where the office of the speaker through whose authority we are having this meeting is not even recognised by an appointee of the executive”.

A member, Chachangi Rufai Ahmed, insisted on calling the IGP “mister”, saying if the IGP does not recognise the Speaker, then there was no point using his title to address him.

But the Chairman of the Committee sought to put the issue in perspective.

Kumo said: “I believe the IGP does not mean he does not recognise the institution of National  Assembly. Mr.IGP, simple question that triggered this hullabaloo is about  the statement as perceived by members which you can correct or which you can assert; whether the Speaker is  Aminu Tambuwal as it is today or not.”

IGP: “Mr. Chairman and esteemed members, I think it would be subjudice for me to comment on a matter before the court. Thank you.”

Immediately, the session came to a sudden end as members angrily stood up after adjourning the meeting.

The meeting ended on a frosty note. The IGP left without the courtesy of the Chairman seeing him off. This was because members of the committee insisted Kumo should not.

They cordoned Kumo off and vowed he would not accord the IGP such a privilege.

Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, while seeking clarification of what caused the deployment of heavily armed policemen to the National Assembly and the subsequent tear- gassing of the Speaker and other members said the parliament was worried at the conduct of the Police.

The IGP rebuffed the invitation of the Senate, sending a deputy. A week before that, he also shunned the Police Affairs Committee of the House. Rather than honour the invitation, the IGP sent a letter to the Committee, explaining his absence. He also sent  Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) S.L. Wakama to represent him.

Culled from ‘The Nation’