The police have rejected the allegations by Senate President Bukola Saraki against the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris.
Condemning the claims on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer Jimoh Moshood urged Nigerians to ignore the allegations which he said were not true.
“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to a statement in the media credited to the Senate President on the recent political development in Kwara State where he raised allegations that ‘…the entire world to hold the IGP responsible if anything untoward happens to members of my family and myself,” Moshood noted in a statement.
“The Nigeria Police Force wishes to categorically state that all the allegations in the statement of the Senate President are incorrect, misleading and false and should be disregarded and discountenanced by the general public.”
Contrary to the lawmaker’s claims, Moshood said the police never gave any form of protection to political thugs to attack the family quarters of the Senate President in Ilorin and vandalise property or injure anybody.
“The Police did not receive any complaint or report of a gunshot and wounding as claimed by the Senate President in other areas he mentioned such as Adewole/Adeta, Ile-Otan and Ubandawaki/Pakata,” he stated.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there was no complaint reported at any police division within Ilorin metropolis or any other police division on the 10th January, 2019 to today 11th January 2019 of any attack, wounding, shooting and destruction of any property by any individual(s) or any political party on their members”
The force spokesman insisted that they have beefed-up security within Ilorin metropolis and other locations in Kwara State to ensure the residents were safe.
He added that all police personnel attached to the Senate President, his office and family, were intact and the statutory security protection on his person was also accorded him all the time.
Moshood stressed that there was no complaint from the Senate President before now and faulted the claims that the IGP made attempts to implicate him.
He said, “It is incumbent on the Force to set the record straight and correct the wrong impressions that must have been created in the minds of the general public and the international community from the misinformation and misleading account from the Senate President.
“The Inspector General of Police did not try any trick to implicate the Senate President in some criminal charges; the facts are in the public domain about the suspects of the Offa Bank Robbery now being prosecuted who implicated the Senate President in the matter.”
The force spokesman informed Nigerians that the police have no undisguised hostility against the Senate President or his supporters in Kwara State.
He added that there was no attempt to jeopardise or undermine Saraki’s personal security and that of his immediate and larger family
Moshood noted that police would continue to be apolitical and ensure adequate security throughout the country for all political parties, as well as their members and supporters before, during and after the general elections.
