The presidency on Tuesday summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for questioning over why he breached President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to relocate to Benue following the January 1 killings in the state.
President Buhari received Idris in a private audience and Idris left about 30 minutes after without speaking to pressmen.
President Buhari had on Jan. 9 ordered the Inspector-General to move to Benue to check the reported cases of attacks on innocent citizens.
However, President Buhari who was on an official visit to Benue on Monday in continuation of his tour of troubled areas in the country was told by Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue that the Inspector-General refused to obey his directive.
Ortom, who is not a fan of Idris, alleged that Idris only spent 24 hours in Benue, and later moved to neigbouring Nasarawa state.
Meanwhile, the Presidency had earlier on
Tuesday said President Buhari would first ask Idris to defend himself
against the allegation of disobeying a presidential order before taking
any action on the allegation.
The Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had said this while answering
questions during a radio programme, Political Platform, on RayPower FM.
“The president demanded for a full report on police operations till date after which he will make further decisions”, a source told NAN.
”There is a renewed resolve to make sure that the killings and bad security situation in Benue State abates,’’ the source further said.
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu confirmed the meeting but refused to disclose details.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have chided President Muhammadu Buhari for saying he was unaware that Inspector General of Police, IGP, , Ibrahim Idris, did not carry out his orders regarding the security situation in Benue State.
According to the party, such admission shows that the President is running an incompetent and uncoordinated government.
The party said President Buhari had irredeemably “indicted himself” for not knowing that the man tasked with the security of the nation failed to take orders from him (the Commander-in-Chief), stressing that such unpardonable gaffe was responsible for “government’s wrecking of the nation’s once robust economy as well as other woes that have befallen our nation in his almost three years in office.”
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, urged All Progressives Congress, APC, and supporters of the President to take their minds off the Aso Villa ahead of 2019 elections now that their leader and sole candidate had practically admitted his incompetence to run an effective government as desired by Nigerians.
It said: “Nigerians have completely lost hope in President Muhammadu Buhari and his incompetent administration. By stating that he was unaware that the IGP only spent 24 hours in Benue State, Mr. President has confirmed that he has not been effectively monitoring the handling of the security situation of our nation.”
Speaking in defence of the presidency, Femi Adeshina said it would not have been proper for Buhari to act on the matter immediately the allegation was made.
He said being a fair-minded man; the
President would give Idris the opportunity to defend himself against the
allegation before taking the next step.
He said, “The President should act
immediately and not hearing from the other side? That will not be
proper. A father does not act like that.”
“Even in the home, if there is an
allegation from somebody, you listen to the other side before you will
do whatever you will do.”
“The IG, as of yesterday(Monday) I knew
was out of the country. That allegation came from Benue people. Knowing
the President as a fair-minded man, he is going to listen to the IG, he
is going to ask him to defend himself and then the next step.”
On why it should be the people that
would draw the President’s attention to the IG’s attitude when he is
supposed to know how his appointees carry out his orders, Adesina said
it meant that Buhari was not omniscient.
The presidential spokesman added, “It
simply tells you that the President is not omniscient. No human being is
omniscient, it is only God that is omniscient: He knows all things.
“The President said last week that he
had his channels of getting information apart from security reports he
receives as President but it does not mean that he gets every
information under the sun.”
“Even in the best countries in the world, the superpowers, there are still security breaches.”
Adesina also faulted those saying the IG episode had further exposed the President as not being in control of his government.
He said the fact remained that Buhari was in full charge of the government and he had been running it efficiently.