I didn’t send DPO to disrupt G-7 govs’ meeting –IG

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, on Thursday denied that he was aware that a divisional police officer disrupted the November 3 meeting of the seven rebel governors of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja.

He said this when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, grilled him over the alleged role of his men in disrupting the meeting.

The G-7 governors were said to be meeting at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja when the DPO led a team of policemen to stop the meeting, claiming to be acting on “orders from above.”

The House had through a resolution directed the committee to investigate the “circumstances, which led to the police storming the Kano Governor’s Lodge.”

But, on Thursday, the IG told the committee, which headed by Mr. Musa Kurmo, that he did not send the DPO to disrupt the meeting.

He also claimed that the area in question was under the direct control of the FCT Police Command, adding that the right officer to have been in the know of what transpired was the Commissioner of Police in charge of the FCT.

However, he rationalised the role of the police, saying that the presence of the DPO could also mean that he was there to ensure the security and safety of the personalities that gathered there.

He said, “I want to say before I comment on that particular incident, there is no where, there is no time an instruction has been given to any particular police officer, to disrupt the meeting of any particular organisation that is lawfully convened.

“On the incident in question, neither myself nor any of my aids has directed any police officer to disrupt any meeting.

“But, Mr. Chairman, remember that as a police force, in every police force, there are certain responsibilities; the commissioner of police of a state has responsibilities of that particular state, so is the CP of FCT.

“Anything that happens in FCT, the commissioner will be asked to explain why it happened; be it robbery, be it kidnapping, be it any act of illegality.

“The point in question is where this meeting took place is a very key area for the police because we do know that there are liaison offices for state governors.

“We are aware of the fact that they require high level of security to maintain peace in that place, and I believe, without any contradiction, the DPO was not sent by anybody to do what he did.”

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