The ongoing war of words between the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and Sen.
Isah Hamman Misau, may be far from over, as the lawmaker, on the floor of the Senate, today, alleged that the Police boss has impregnated and now married a female police officer, which he said, is against the rule of the Police Service (PSC). According to The Sun, Senator Misau said the lady in question had since been promoted, despite her lack of qualification for the new rank.
The senator said the corruption in the Force, under the current IGP, Ibrahim Idris, must be questioned if the integrity of the Force must be restored.
“I am aware that the IGP has impregnated a female officer in his office. Because he wanted to save his face, he hurriedly went ahead and married the woman.
The wedding ceremony was held in Kaduna State. The female officer was already four months pregnant. This is against the rules of the Police Service Commission. You cannot marry another police officer while you are still serving. But the IGP has flouted that law.” he said Misau said the pregnant female officer, was also compensated by the police IG, by illegally promoting her, despite her lack of qualification.
The lawmaker said the marriage between the IGP and the female officer, contravenes the code of ethics of the Force. Misau in his long remarks, said: “During the recess a lot of things happened between me and the office of the IGP. I am a retired police officer and served for 10 years and my father was in the police too and served for 34 years.. In fact, he joined the police even before I was born. So when I speak about police, I know what I am saying. When I speak about police, I speak on authority. I was concerned about what was happening in the police in terms of bribery which led the IG to be scared. I called three serving officers and they confirmed to me that people pay much more than N500,000 to get promotion.
Even the revenue the police is generating we know. Police is not supposed to generate money, meanwhile companies pay money to police to provide security for them. This is an open secret. It is obvious that even people with questionable character have police bbacking withsiren all over the place. One police officer is supposed to be for 400 people, but in Nigeria, it is one police officer to 800 people and a marketer for instance will have over 30 policemen, thereby depleting the few police we have meanwhile the ordinary citizens are left without adequate protection. Another thing I found out is that there is illegal diversion of funds by the IGP. Under the 2016 budget, there is a place where IG ought to buy Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), but he bought luxury cars without virement.” The face-off between Misau and police boss, Idris, started in August this year when the lawmaker, in an interview granted to a national newspaper, claimed that police officers pay bribes to get favorable postings and promotions.
The IGP, through the Force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, disputed his claims, saying that they were unfounded. He had further claimed that Misau deserted the Force and that he would soon be declared wanted to respond to a disciplinary committee set up to probe him.
After listening to his submissions today, Senate President Bukola Saraki, constituted an adhoc committee to investigate the claims of financial fraud made by Sen. Misau and report to the Senate as soon as possible.
The adhoc committee is to be headed by the Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Francis Alimikhena, while Nelson Effiong, Binta Garba, Obinna Ogba, Faseyi Duro, Abdulaziz Nyako and Suleiman Hukunyi are to serve as members. The Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, is to investigate other claims made by Misau against the IGP.
The committee is expected to report in two weeks. “We have listened to our colleague and we cannot ignore the allegations. We have a duty to fight corruption. These matters are weighty and investigate. We will set up an adhoc committee to investigate this allegations and report back to the Senate. The adhoc committee we will set up will deal with all the allegations about misappropriation of funds made against the IGP. We will refer the other issues about personal misconduct against the IGP to the Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to for investigations,” Saraki said
