IGP’s snub of Senate invitation assault on Nigeria’s democracy

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the repeated snub of Senate’s invitation by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and described the attitude as “an assault on Nigeria’s democracy”.

Mr Idris, who was expected to appear before the Senate on Tuesday, failed to show up. It was the third time the Police boss was failing to honour such invitation.

Irked by that behaviour, the senate on Tuesday passed a vote of no confidence on the IGP and declared him unfit to hold any public office.

The PDP, in its reaction to the development, said that it was “very wrong” for the IGP to ignore the invitation, saying that he had missed a chance to share ideas with the lawmakers on ways to tackle the insecurity in the nation,

“His (IGP)’s refusal to honour the invitation is a deliberate assault on Nigeria’s democracy; it is a willful denigration of the National Assembly and a recourse to totalitarianism,” the party said in a statement signed by Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary.

The PDP said that it was “unfortunate” that Idris had, for the third time, shunned the Senate invitation over the worsening security situation in the nation.

“Never in our democratic history as a people and as a nation, has a service chief treated the National Assembly with disdain like the current IGP.

“All over the world, the legislature is a bastion of democracy and our constitution, in recognition of this, provides a special place for our National Assembly, as the representatives of the people, to serve as a check on the executive arm.

“We, therefore, condemn this offensive on our democracy by IGP Idris. We also condemn the deliberate insult being heaped on each of our legislators by appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari,’’ the party said.

The PDP urged the President of the Senate and other senators to protect the institution of the legislature and the country’s democracy by not limiting their action only to finding Mr Ibrahim Idris as “unfit” to hold public office.

“The Senate should take the next step within their legislative instrument and powers to restore the respect and dignity which the generality of Nigerians and the 1999 Constitution (as amended), bestowed on them,” the statement said. (NAN)