The Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, on Thursday accused the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, of breaching the 1999 Constitution by withdrawing the speaker’s police security personnel.
It noted that by using Section 68(1)(g) as the basis for his action, the IG had assumed the powers of the Judiciary, the only arm of government empowered to interpret the constitution.
“We are on authority that nothing in the 1999 Constitution nor the Police Act confers on the police force adjudicatory powers including the interpretation of the constitution.
“In any case even Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution does not contemplate the issuing of or compliance with unlawful orders by the President and or the the Inspector General of Police respectively.
“What the Acting Inspector-General of Police has done therefore has no basis in law including the 1999 Constitution which he has cited. It is a brazen act of crass impunity, gross constitutional breach and contempt of court. The Inspector-General should desist from assuming or usurping the constitutional functions of the Judiciary,” the office said in a statement by Tambuwal’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Imam Imam.
The statement added that the judiciary had long interpreted the section the IG quoted and concluded through two court cases that there were indeed divisions and factions in the Peoples Democratic Party.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the question of whether or not there is a division or faction in the PDP has been resolved by Lord Justice Faji of the Ilorin Division of Federal High Court in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/605/2013, in which the court held that indeed there were factions in the PDP.
“Again, in suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/ 605/2013, the Sokoto Division of the Federal High Court per Justice Aikawa, the judgment of the court was that there was not only division but faction in the PDP, which later merged with the APC,” the statement added.
Tambuwal’s office further said the IG’s action was not only contemptuous of the courts, but also “a ploy to bring harm to the person of Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.”
via nigerianeye
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