The Senate, yesterday, alleged
that the Nige-ria Police had stolen all documents relating to the processing
and passage of the 2017 Appropriation Bill, urging Nigerians to hold the Force
responsible for delay in the passage of the bill.
The Senate also directed the
Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to as a matter of urgency, return
the documents and all electronic gadgets, including computers containing the
budget files, which were taken away from the residence of the chairman of the
Senate Committee on Appropriations, Danjuma Goje.
This was as the chamber set up an
ad hoc committee to investigate the invasion of the Abuja residence of Goje, by
the Police last week Thursday. The upper chamber further directed the same
committee to investigate the alleged assassination attempt on the Senator
representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye.
On the budget, the Senate decided
to heap the blame of its failure to pass the budget as earlier scheduled on the
Police, following the point of order raised by Goje, alerting the chamber that
his residence was raided last week by the Police.
Goje also told the apex
legislative chamber that the Police took away files and laptop containing the
2017 budget documents, in addition to carting away monies in naira, dollar and
other currencies.
While adopting the presentation
made by Goje pertaining to the invasion of his residence last week, the Senate
asked the Police to tender public apology to the National Assembly and also
return all the allegedly stolen documents to enable the chamber to continue
with work on the budget.
The President of the Senate, Dr.
Bukola Saraki, told the lawmakers that the Police had informed the Committee on
Police Affairs that the operation in Goje’s house was carried out based on
wrong information from a whistle blower.
However, Saraki insisted that the
Senate would not accept the excuse as he declared that an immediate official
explanation must be made to the Red Chamber on the operation.
The members of the ad hoc
committee set up to investigate the invasion include Senators Jibrin Barau
(APC, Kano State), Isa Misau (APC, Bauchi State), Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu),
David Umoru (APC, Niger State) and Foster Ogola (PDP, Bayelsa West).
In his submission to the Senate,
Goje said the policemen took N18 million in addition to $19,000, 4,000 Saudi
Riyadh, 18 files and a laptop which contained budget documents from his house
during the operation.
He lamented that his family
members and himself were thoroughly traumatized in the operation he said lasted
for four hours while he was away trying to put reports of the budget together
at the National Assembly.
He said: “In addition, they also
took my laptop. And to make matters worse, they took 18 files from my office. I
am so traumatized now and I don’t know which files are missing, which files are
available now. Some of these files have to do with the work I am doing, that is
the budget.
“Like I told you, we were holding
a meeting on the budget when they came last Thursday. So from Thursday till
now, we have not been able to meet because some of the papers are no longer
available; many of us are traumatized, my house as a politician is a beehive of
activities; people are coming from all over the country to sympathise with me.
I have no time to sit and from
today we are trying to start sitting again as appropriations committee to see
what we can do with the budget. “I want to apologise to my colleagues that we
could not keep to the timetable you gave us to lay the budget yesterday
(Tuesday) and to get it passed today (Wednesday); and I think it is not our own
fault, it is the fault of the police because the police interfered with the
whole of the budget process and I hope Nigerians will not turn out to blackmail
the National Assembly because the process were truncated by the police.”
Goje also told the Senate that
the Police had not contacted him to explain why his house was invaded; pointing
out that he was not yet in the know of the reason behind the action of the
Police. Saraki insisted that the Police must give explanations on why it
carried out the act without any convincing reasons.
He said: “This matter is a very
serious matter as Senator Goje has said; it is now over five days with no
statement or comments from the police to tell us why this raid was done or to
tell us where these files are which are very important in the appropriation process.
“Sadly, I must tell you
distinguished senators, that, informally the chairman of the police committee
told me this morning that the police are saying that it is something to do with
whistle blower. If the whistle blower misled them, I think the police should
apologise not only to him, but to the entire country.”
The Inspector General of Police
reportedly visited the Deputy President of the Senate, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu and
the Senate leader, Ahmad Lawan, to seek peaceful resolution to the impasse
between his establishment and the apex chamber. A source within the Senate told
New Telegraph that the IGP had to visit Ekweremadu and Lawan because Saraki
refused to see him, in retaliation for his refusal to pick his calls when his
men invaded Goje’s house in Abuja.
Also, the House of
Representatives yesterday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to Idris to return
documents relating to the 2017 appropriation bill seized in Goje’s house.
The lower chamber warned that
failure to return the documents would slow down the early passage of the 2017
budget. This followed the adoption of a motion brought by Hon. Abubakar Ahmad
Yunusa (APC, Gombe) on the need to check the excesses of security agents with
regard to invasion of residences of law abiding citizens.
In adopting the motion, the House
resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to invite Idris to appear before it to
explain what warranted the invasion of the residences of law abiding citizens.
Similarly, the House mandated its
Committee on National Intelligence to investigate the source and actual
ownership of the N13 billion recovered from a residential apartment in Lagos by
personnel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This decision was sequel to a
motion on the need to investigate the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) over
the N13 billion recovered from an apartment at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi moved by
Hon. Babatunde Kolawole.
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