The Inspector- General of the Police, Solomon Arase, on Thursday said he did not purposely ignore the directives of the House of Representatives to seal the Kogi State House of Assembly.
Arase, who appeared before an Adhoc committee on the crisis headed by the Majority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said what occurred was caused by misinformation.
He said it was not in his character to disobey laid down rules, constituted authority and powers of the National Assembly.
The IGP said after he had given the order for closure of the Assembly, he directed that some of the security personnel at the complex be redeployed since only skeletal services were taking place at the complex.
He said: “One of the areas of disagreement was that we were not able to distinguish who were the members and who were the staff of the Assembly and we didn’t want to stop the staff from going inside the complex.
“The day that they came to sit, it was an oversight. We shouldn’t have allowed them to do that.
“I am one person that from my pedigree, I hold great respect for constituted authority. I wouldn’t have done anything deliberately to disobey the decision of this honorable House.
“I am aware of the constitutional authority of this House and wouldn’t have done anything to offend you people in any way.”
However, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, did not appear before the lawmakers. He sent his Special Assistant 1, Sylvester Imhanobe, to represent him.
Credit: The Nation
