Probe Misau, Police Allegations
In the last two weeks, the nation has watched with concern the altercation between the Nigeria Police and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isa Hamma Misau, which has featured allegations of gross misconduct on both sides. In the first place, the Senator, while responding to questions from the media, accused the Inspector General of Police Idris Ibrahim of deploying armed police officers to sundry ‘clients,’ such as banks, oil companies, and rich private companies and individuals and may be collecting as much as N10 billion monthly as ‘internally generated revenue’ without officially remitting it into the Police purse.
In reacting to this grave allegation against its top cop, the Nigeria Police establishment not only denied it, but went further to declare Senator Misau as a deserter from the force in which he had served up to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). Not content with the desertion allegation against the Senator, the Police went further to declare him a wanted man, and in the process cast damaging aspersions on him.
Misau’s reaction to the Police declaration was sheer defiance, as he claimed that the Force had no legal justification to act as it did. In the course of the altercation, the Police Service Commission (PSC) intervened in the matter and invited him to appear before it today (Wednesday). A further twist to the matter emerged when Misau produced documents to prove that he disengaged from the Police Force legitimately but the Police described those documents as forged.
This situation is subjecting the country to unjustified shouting match. In the first place, it is difficult to place Misau beyond the threshold of a selfish and unpatriotic Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who was privy of the diversion of public funds into private pockets and waited to use such as an instrument of self-serving blackmail. Why did he fail to raise such a serious issue on the floor of the Senate in the exercise of his privilege for the legislative house to investigate same? By acting the way he did he has robbed the country of an invaluable opportunity of addressing and institutionalising one viable source of revenue for the country’s Police establishment which, by common knowledge, is cash-strapped and depends on hand-outs from sundry sources for its operations.
On the other hand, it is unprofessional for the Nigeria Police to act in apparent defence of its top gun - the IGP - in order to crucify Misau, just for ‘whistle blowing.’ The Force should be more concerned with the impression that, at a time like this when insecurity has engulfed the entire country, it is accused of firming out its services to anybody willing to pay money, while leaving the general public largely unprotected. By its languid response, the Police have offered the Nigerian public the impression that it intends ill-will for Misau.
In the context of such mutually opposed positions, the way forward remains a resort by both parties to the extant provision s of the country’s public service since the core claims by both parties border on breaches of the public service procedures. Ordinarily, the Police should have been involved in the investigation, but for the fact that it has lost the moral ground for such exercise as it cannot be a judge in its own case. In the same vein, the Senate is under obligation to explore whatever breaches of its ethics by Misau. Nigerians want answers to two key questions. Firstly, do the interests that enjoy exclusive armed police protection pay money for such services, and if so, how much and to whom? Secondly, did Senator Misau leave the Nigeria Police as a deserter? The National Assembly and relevant Federal Government agencies should probe these issues and ensure that remedial or punitive measures are carried out.