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  • Senate vs IGP: Hunting the hunter

    Senate vs IGP: Hunting the hunter

    The Senate has threatened to order the arrest of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, if he shuns its invitation at the end of the deadline today. Can the lawmakers make such an order? How would it be implemented? ROBERT EGBE asks. 

     

    The arrest of an Inspector-General of Police (IGP) on the orders of the National Assembly has no precedence in Nigerian history.

    But, last Thursday, the Senate vowed to issue a warrant for the arrest of IGP Ibrahim Idris, unless he met today’s deadline to appear before its ad-hoc committee.

    The committee, chaired by Senator Francis Alimikhena, is investigating allegations of abuse of office against Idris.

    Alimikhena issued the threat after the IGP shunned a scheduled investigative hearing at the Senate.

    The Edo North senator said the IGP was summoned by the panel on October 16, to respond to allegations made against him by Senator Isah Hamman Misau.

     

    Senate’s summons

    The basis of the Senate’s invitation of the IGP is the claims of a former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), now Senator Misau.

    Misau (Bauchi Central) stirred up the hornet’s nest when he alleged that police officers paid as much as N2.5 million to get special promotions and postings.

    He accused the police boss of diverting money meant for the purchase of Armoured Personnel Carriers, Sports Utility Vehicles and other exotic cars.

    He told the probe panel that the IGP purchased two jeeps for the wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari.

    Misau also alleged that the IGP misused over N120 billion generated by the Police in one year from providing security for private firms and privileged individuals

    He further alleged that the police boss impregnated a serving police officer and hurriedly arranged a marriage ceremony in Kaduna.

    Idris, through the Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, dismissed the claims as unfounded and a smear campaign against the IGP.

    The police spokesman asked Nigerians to disregard the allegations against the IGP

    In like manner, Mrs. Buhari also denied the purchase of cars for her by the IGP.

    On October 11, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, filed two separate fraud charges against the Senator for making ‘injurious statements’ against the IGP.

     

    The IGP’s suit

    Idris, in a fundamental rights enforcement suit marked FCT/HC /CV/ 3158 /17, asked the court to declare both the Senate committee, set up to probe the allegations and the conduct of the committee as unconstitutional, null and void.

    The police boss also wants the court to make an order stopping the committee from inviting him, sitting, conducting any hearing on the allegation, discussing or making any report in respect of the planned investigation pending the determination of his suit.

    Through his team of lawyers, led by Charles Ogolu , Idris contended that the Senate President , without regard to relevant constitutional requirements in respect of the role of the Senate in investigations of allegations , set up the committee “ in reaction to “these frivolous allegations “ by Misau.

    The IGP contended that “the act of the first respondent (Saraki) in constituting the committee is ultra vires, unconstitutional, null and void.

    “The said committee so constituted is acting ultra vires, unconstitutional, null and void.”

    Idris also faulted the constitutionality of the committee set up to probe him, seeking, among others,“An order restraining the President of the Senate and the entire Senate from receiving and discussing any report submitted to it by the committee set up to investigate the allegation against Mr. Ibrahim Idris pending the determination of this suit.”

     

    Arrest: extent of lawmakers’ powers

    The National Assembly’s powers to summon or issue warrants of arrest are as contained in Section 89(1) and (2). According to S.89(1)(d), the warrant is only for the purpose of compelling appearance.

    Alimikhena said: “We invited the IGP to appear before our committee. This morning (last Thursday), we got a letter from his lawyer, Alex Iziyon, that he will not appear before this committee. He said the IGP has already gone to court and appearing will be sub-judice.

    “It is our duty as a parliament to investigate the allegations raised. This committee was set up before they went to court. We cannot be stopped. No court can stop us from carrying out our duties. There is a separation of powers. No court can stop us.

    “We will invite him again next Tuesday. There are issues about virement in the 2017 budget which Misau also raised. We need him to respond to these allegations. We will invite him again and he will appear before us. If he fails to appear, we will invoke Section 89 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.”

     

    Who can arrest an IGP?

    A former IGP, Sunday Ehindero, in his book, Police and the Law in Nigeria, defines arrest as consisting in “the touching of a man’s body with a view to his restraint. Words may, however, constitute an arrest if they are intended to, and do in fact bring to a person’s notice that he is under compulsion and he submits himself to such compulsion.”

    Theoretically, the IGP has no immunity from arrest. According to Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), only the President, the Vice President, governors and deputy governors enjoy that privilege, while in office.

    But, practically speaking, the IGP, like the heads of military or armed para-military organisations, appears to enjoy a de facto immunity from arrest which is tied to the President and safeguarded by the armed men under his command.

    The IGP is a direct appointee of the President and, unlike other officers under his command, he is not subject to the disciplinary powers of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

     

    Why PSC can’t intervene

    The PSC is empowered under the law to appoint for promotion and exercise disciplinary control over persons in the Nigeria Police.

    But under Section 6(1) of the PSC Act, such powers do not extend to the IGP. In other words, such powers belong to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    On October 8, 2017, the PSC, in a statement by its Media, Press and Public Relations Officer, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed its limitations in the Misau-Idris face-off.

    “The Commission also wishes to state that its powers to do this do not cover the office of the Inspector-General of Police,” he said.

     

    Legal views

    Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) Seyi Sowemimo and Festus Keyamo agreed that no law confers immunity on an IGP. They, however, noted that the court case aside, it may be near practicably impossible to physically compel an IGP to go where he does not want.

    Sowemimo said: “An IGP doesn’t enjoy any immunity under the Constitution, so, there’s no reason why he cannot be arrested, but who is going to arrest him? Certainly none of his policemen would do that.

    “So, these are the practical difficulties that the Senate faces. Yes, it has the power to issue a warrant for the arrest of anyone who holds the Senate in contempt, but now the man is saying there’s a case in court.

    “Ordinarily, if there’s a case in court which touches on what the lawmakers are investigating, they have to defer to the case in court. They cannot resort to self-help; they should allow the court to pronounce.

    “It is just one of those irritating things about the law, because we all know that the suit in court may be an avenue for him to avoid the Senate invitation.

    “Unfortunately, our courts too allow themselves to be used, because a judge in such a situation should hear that matter quickly and probably direct that there is no ground, he should go and face his invitation at the Senate. But this matter could be dragged on for so long.

    Sowemimo urged the Senate to await the decision of the court.

    “It is sub judice and the lawmakers should not expect him to come and be answering them if he’s pursuing a case to restrain them in court.”

    According to Keyamo, the court case is a ground for the Senate to suspend its invitation, “if they have been served.”

    He noted that if the IGP failed to serve the lawmakers, then he had a duty to honour the invitation, otherwise, he would be giving the President a ground to remove him from office.

    Keyamo said: “The IGP is not above the law. If they issue a warrant of arrest for him, he ought to take himself there because the warrant of arrest is usually directed to his office, to arrest anybody and bring before the Senate.

    “Now he is the one involved, if he fails to obey and take himself there, it could be a ground for the President to remove him from office as IG, because that means that he expects everybody to obey the law and he, who is expected to enforce the law, is not obeying it.

    “But, it may not be possible for somebody to arrest and take him to the Senate because he is the IG and no inferior officer can arrest him, except another agency altogether and those other agencies may not be empowered to do so.”

     

    Can the Senate ask another agency to

    arrest the IG?

    Section 89(2) of the Constitution does not limit the execution of a warrant issued by the National Assembly to the Police. Thus, the lawmakers may authorise “any person” to effect service.

    But the senior lawyers do not find that probable.

    “That would be chaotic,” Keyamo said, “because the IG has ‘troops’ at his disposal.  So, it would be practically impossible to invade the police headquarters and arrest the IG. What kind of troops will do that? There’ll be a shootout, there’ll be dead bodies. It’s only the President that he’s answerable to.”

     

    Has an IGP ever been arrested?

    Nigeria does not have a history of arresting police bosses, but on April 4, 2005, four months after leaving office, former IGP Tafa Balogun was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and successfully prosecuted for corruption. He bagged six months in jail after a plea bargain.

     

    Iran’s experience

    On March 10, 2008, the police chief of Iran’s capital city, Tehran, Reza Zarei, was arrested after allegedly being found nude in a local brothel with six naked women. Zarei was in charge of a programme for the “moralisation of the city”.

     

    Will Idris honour the invitation?

    The IGP seems to be undecided as to whether he will honour the Senate’s invitation. Last Friday in Abuja, he told State House correspondents that his appearance was conditional, on the advice of his legal team.

    He said: “These are legal issues; we are discussing with our legal team, obviously if there is need we are going to appear for the sake of having respect for the senate, I will appear before them.”

     

  • Hunter arrested for ‘shooting’ two

    A hunter, Joseph Adeyemi, has been arrested after allegedly shooting two of his colleagues during a hunting expedition in Ootunja-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
    It was gathered that the three hunters last Thursday went to hunt for wild pigs known in local parlance as “elede igbo”.
    One of the victims, Bayo Oyegoke, was said to have died instantly. The other, Stephen Aroso, was injured and is receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
    Oyegoke had five wives and an unspecified number of children.
    Police spokesman Alberto Adeyemi said the suspect has been arrested.
    “The suspect has been arrested and investigation is going on now,’’ he said.

  • Court remands 38-yr-old hunter in prison for allegedly shooting colleague dead

    Another kept in custody for shooting couple

    A 38-year-old hunter has has been arrested for killing his colleague in Ilawe, a community in Ekiti State.

    Emmanuel Lamidi allegedly shot Benjamin Patrick dead during a hunting expedition at Awelewa Farm in Ilawe Ekiti, Ekiti South West Local Government Area, on May 8.

    Lamidi, however, told the court that he mistakenly took his colleague for an animal during the expedition.

    He was subsequently arrested and charged before an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court.

    Police prosecutor, Seargent Monica Ikebuilo, told the court that Lamidi committed the offence at about 23:00hrs on May 8 at Awelewa farm, Ilawe-Ekiti in Ekiti South West Local Government Area.

    She said the accused unlawfully killed his victim by shooting him dead with a locally made gun.

    The offence, according to the prosecutor, contravened Section 325 of the Criminal Code, Cap C 16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

    Ikebuilo said she had forwarded his case file to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

    The plea of the accused was not taken as he said that he killed an animal and not his friend.

    His counsel, Chris Omokhafe, prayed the court for a short date of adjournment as they await advice from DPP’s office.

    Magistrate Doyin Akosile consequently ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody pending DPP’s advice.

    She adjourned the case to June 16 for further hearing.

    In another case heard by the court, a 62- year-old man, James Sunday, was also remanded for allegedly shooting a couple in front of their house.

    Police Prosecutor, Seargent Monica Ikebuilo, told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 6, 2016, at Ago Aduloju area, Ado-Ekiti.

    She alleged that the accused, on the said date, unlawfully attempted to kill a couple, Nwankwo Emmanuel and Chiwodu Emmanuel, by shooting at them in front of their house.

    According to her, the offence contravened Section 320 of the Criminal Code, Cap C 16 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

    She said the duplicated case file had been forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

    The plea of the accused was not taken as his counsel, Chris Omokhafe, prayed the court for short adjournment.

    Magistrate Akosile consequently ordered the remand of the accused in prison custody pending the advice from DPP’s office.

    She adjourned the case to June 16 for further hearing.

  • Hunter kills python at students’ hostel

    Hunter kills python at students’ hostel

    A 13-foot python was killed in a building close to a male hostel at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last Saturday. Worried by the development, students are calling on  the management to ensure their safety. VICTOR OGBUAGU reports.

    Fear. Trepidation. Excitement. These captured the mood at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, last Saturday when a python was killed in an uncompleted building close to a male hall of residence.

    Being a weekend, majority of the students had gone out for extra-curricula activities; some chose to play football; others engaged in other games.

    Few minutes past 9am, an unidentified man raised the alarm on sighting the python.  Those in their hostels thought it was a joke, until the python crawled out of the building.

    Students ran helter skelter on seeing it. A local hunter, who lives in the building, chased the python with a cutlass, battling it for several minutes before overpowering it.

    Students, who watched the scene from a distance, were stunned by his bravery. The brave among them joined the hunter to kill the python.

    The students took the lifeless animal round the campus in a triumphant mood. As they went round, some students, out of fear that the python may come back to life, pulled back.

    Reliving the incident, the hunter, who simply gave his name as Okey, said he found the python when he heard a strange noise in the building.

    He said: “Out of curiosity, I moved round the building to know what was happening. I initially thought somebody was held in captivity within the building. But, what I saw was beyond my imagination. I saw the snake folded at a corner of a room. I quickly fetched my cutlass and an iron rod and moved to attack it before the students joined in killing it.”

    The students wondered how the animal got into the campus.

    A student, who gave his name as Iyke, compared the scenario to a “movie scene”. He said: “I was playing football with other mates as we do every weekend when we heard people shouting, “python”, “python”, “python”. We left the field to see what was going on and what we saw shocked us. It was like a scene in a movie. I never saw a snake as big and long as this. The length of the snake frightened other students, who ran away. We discovered that the hunter had already overpowered the python. We joined in killing the snake.”

    Another student, Ebuka Ezeah, said: “When the hunter raised the alarm about the python, some brave students rushed to the scene with stones and sticks. They hurled stones at the snake, killing it on the spot.”

    The students turned it all into a carnival, celebrating the python’s death. They sang and danced, carrying the python from one hostel to another and to various departments.

    There was a drama when the school security officers came to the hostel and attempted to remove the python. But the students resisted, chanting: “bring back our snake”. The snake was returned to the hunter.

    Some of the students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, called on the school management to ensure that their safety on campus.

    One of them, Chuks Okafor, said: “This is not the first time we are experiencing something like this on the campus. The killing of two alligators in the hostel is still fresh in our memory. The management may have done well in protecting students against criminals; it is not just about crime. We need to be protected from dangerous animals. I expect the school management to do something about this latest python invasion.”

  • Pastor, hunter, politician

    Pastor, hunter, politician

    The profile of the new Secretary to the Government  of the Federation (SGF) has brought into bold relief why many wanted the Buhari administration to appoint one from the onset of his reign.

    Given the sort of man Buhari is, he needed a quintessential bureaucrat. But an SGF is not just a bureaucrat. He is the mediator and by-way between the ministries and MDGs on the one hand, and the political elite on the other.

    So, while the SGF is a politician, he also bears a bureaucrat in his breast. He is therefore a binary man of government. He should laugh and dabble in the vainglory and thespian affinity of the agbada or babaringa in one moment. In the next moment, his brow should knot with figures and competencies and visions and roadmaps of projects, etc. In his full profile, he should swivel with almost animal reflex from one to another, as though he were born to speak with the politician and the permanent secretary in equal flourish of data and register.

    We know the personage called Muhammadu Buhari. He is tall, gaunt, with a boyish smile that contrasts at times with an intimidating scowl. That scowl reminds me of that moment in his first world press conference as military head of state. “The press,” he roared, if we call it roar with the thin, firm, almost babyish muscularity of his voice. “We will tamper with that.” He probably will say “temper” today.

    But that scowl comes rarely now. Maybe because he wears only civilian clothes, has been subjected to the mellowing of democratic ethos, has been subdued by the battering of age and the dew of time. In fact, because of the deliberateness of his actions, many believe he has lost a vital part of his principled fire. They say he is conscious of his peremptory past, and he is more wary of being cast in the mould of a despot.

    Whatever the case is, Buhari still bears the carriage of the austere leader with deep pious reserve and disdain for material extravagance. His assets now in public glare reveal a man more in touch with the bounties of nature than of the bank.

    So, his secretary to the government must compensate for his “lapses.” He must belong to what Max Weber, the authority on authority, calls “the legal rational” order. Buhari falls into the Weberian charismatic order. People of his class do not rely on position for power. He has what Harvard Professor Joseph Nye calls soft power. But it dwarfs the hard power of position. Weber sees it as the “authority of the extraordinary and personal gift of grace.” But of all the authorities, it is the most mysterious. Even Nye notes, in his The Powers to Lead, that nothing in itself guarantees a person charisma. Not voice, money, height, carriage, royalty, etc. Napoleon was smallish, Churchill burly, Lincoln tall and ugly, De Gaulle tall and handsome, Mandela tallish and handsome, Roosevelt tall on wheel chair.

    Enter Babachir David Lawal. The new SGF is a politician but he has had his experience in industry. Big-boned with an effervescent spirit, his first stark contrast with Buhari is that he is a pastor in the North from a minority tribe known as Tilba. But he worked in the Niger Delta for a few years where he can spin yarns about the men in that region and their habits of fashion and work. He worked with the Delta Steel Company in Aladja in today’s Delta State, after graduating in engineering from the Ahmadu Bello University.

    He also worked with Data Science Limited and NITEL. He has traversed the private and public trusts, and he broke out to be an entrepreneur with his own firm, and has been a member of the engineering and computer elites in the country. That is the bureaucrat.

    As a politician, he worked in the Northeast and rose to be the All Progressives Congress vice chairman in  the region. But the intriguing thing was his role during the Boko Haram high noon of infamy. He was a pioneer in rallying the hunters to fight the bands of militants. The story of how these hunters mounted counteroffensives against the militants will one day be told. He rallied them with dane guns, bows and arrows. We recall some of their efforts. In one of those battles, the hunters beat the BH boys where our armies failed.

    Lawal was also, as a politician, a victim of his support for Buhari, when robbers attacked him and claimed it was because of his support for Buhari in 2011. The irony was that he was alone in his choice as a Buhari supporter when others looked Jonathan’s way. Some hoodlums attacked his church, The ECWA Gospel Church, and burned down the building. They left a bold picture of Buhari as emblem of their rage. Lawal’s fellow church members accused him of collaborating with the arsonists.

    There we go. We have seen how he can be both politician and administrator. The job of SGF is not equals part bureaucratic and political. I daresay it is more political. But it’s bureaucratic component looms. It determines whether the government can succeed or not. For a charismatic character like Buhari, he leads because he is a leader. But for Lawal, it is the rules, not ruler, who is important. That’s why his job is tricky. Part of his job is to forestall the sort of nightmare that novelist Franz Kafka painted about bureaucracy in his book, The Castle, where a visitor cannot find the chief bureaucrat even after entering the castle.

    Some modern theorists of administration, who speak of transactional and transformational leadership latch a good leader to all virtues and categories. He must have a dose of each. Weber identified a third leadership type: the traditional. In Nigeria, it refers to patriarchs and feudalist leaders like kings and emirs. Some have said the evolution of the Catholic Church exemplifies the three types: Jesus (Charismatic), Priests (traditional) the church itself (legal rational).

    The same sort of chemistry is required to work in states. A blend is important between governor and SSG. We are seeing that in Lagos, for instance. The secretary is the lingua franca between politics and the bureaucracy. When the connection fails between president and SGF, a great adjustment is necessary.

    Powerful bureaucrats change the course of history. We know of Simeon Adebo and Jerome Udoji. Sometimes politicians do it well.  A great example was Obafemi Awolowo, who blended the bureaucrat and the politician, although one got in the way of the other at times. In Kenya, journalist-turned-bureaucrat John Githongo was a great anti-corruption warrior. India has a long list of them but Krishnan Menon is unforgettable for his many work. In the United States, a soldier George Marshall helped rebuild post-war Europe with the Marshall Plan. French man Jean Monet helped turn a steel industry as the germ for building the European Union.

    It all depends on how well Buhari will put Lawal to work, and how much visionary and strategic vitality Lawal will bring to the table. We now have the SGF. Hopefully, in a few weeks, we shall have the ministers and the Buhari engine should start to whir.

  • Tragedy as hunter shoots colleague dead

    Bashiru (Opee) used to be a land speculator until recently when he started going on hunting expedition without proper orientation or training

    Tragedy struck in Olorunleke village near Atan, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State penultimate Sunday as a local hunter allegedly shot his colleague dead during a hunting expedition.

    It was learnt that in the evening of the fateful day, the errant hunter, identified simply as Jamiu, had approached his late colleague, Bashiru Opee, and invited him for a hunting expedition in a nearby forest.

    Forty-two-year-old Opee was allegedly clearing a bush path with a cutlass when Jamiu, who was holding his gun for him, “mistakenly” pulled the trigger and killed him.

    The gunshot was said to have drawn the attention of villagers who immediately rushed to the scene. The villagers were said to have invited the police who arrested Jamiu.

    It was learnt that Opee was found in a pool of blood while efforts made by the villagers to save his life did not yield fruit.

    The deceased was buried the next day according to Islamic rites.

    Although many of the villagers declined to speak to our correspondent during a visit to the community, a man who asked that his name should not be mentioned said: “Bashiru (Opee) used to be a land speculator until recently when he started going on hunting expedition without proper orientation or training.”

    Confirming the incident, the spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, had ordered the transfer of the suspect to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.