Melaye: IGP must appear before Senate — Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, must appear before the Senate over the arrest of Senator Dino Melaye and other security issues in the country.

Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Saraki said they had reported the IGP to the President over his refusal to honour Senate invitations.

“We also raised the issue of the nonappearance of the IG at the Senate and felt that they must continue to ensure that he continues to apply obedience to the issue of constituted authority.

“We are of great concern that this is the first time this is happening and that that matter needs to be addressed considering the importance of the powers of the Constitution that gives investigative powers, also gives to us and that there is need for police to accept that they too are under constitution and they must obey that. We raised that concern,” he said

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who also attended the meeting, said the police behaved like “upgraded barbarians” by taking Senator Melaye to Lokoja on a stretcher last week.

Dogara said he and Saraki met behind closed doors with President Buhari.

The speaker maintained that wheeling people to court does not portray a good image of the nation’s democracy.

“On the issue of Senator Dino, of course, anything that happens to one of our members or any member of the National Assembly is of concern to us. And there is no way we can have this kind of meeting without raising that.

“This is a civilian administration, its democracy and it’s imperative and very important that all institutions of democracy operate within the ambit of the rule of law,” Dogara said.