Hafiz Ringim, Inspector General of Police
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IGP to tender apology to The Nation Newspaper Editors
The House of Representatives has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Hafiz Ringim to tender a written apology to four senior editors, three senior reporters of The Nation Newspapers and the legal counsel to Vintage Press, Publishers of the newspaper, who were arrested recently.
The decision was taken at the plenary on Wednesday after the consideration of the report by the joint committee on Justice, human rights, police affairs, media and public affairs on the arrest of four senior editors of The Nation Newspapers.
The House had on October 13, 2011 mandated the joint committee to investigate the issue and present its report within two weeks. The report was filed in last week.
Provisions of the law
The House also directed the IGP to henceforth ensure that all arrests were done in line with the provisions of the laws of the land.
In giving the synopsis of the report, chairman of the joint committee, Hon. Ali Ahmed, said that the committee found out that there was a breach of the Constitution in the mode of arrest of the affected journalists pointing out that it discovered that the purported forged letter was referred to the IGP by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
He said the AGF asked the IGP to investigate and keep him (AGF) updated on progress made and the eventual outcome of the investigation.
Ahmed stated that it was discovered that the IGP did not follow the instructions of the AGF, but went on to arrest them and wanted to charge them to court not considering the fact that sedition was no longer applicable in the Nigerian constitution.
“We also found out that one Lemmy SK wrote a letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo that he was the one responsible for forging his (Obasanjo) signature for the purpose of bringing attention to the fraud taking place in the organizations mentioned in the letter,” he said.
 Written apology
“Paragraph four of the report was about our recommendation that include an apology by the IGP to the company lawyer for being arrested while carrying out his duties,” the lawmaker stated.
While the lawmakers condemned in strong term the manner in which the arrest was carried out, they however stressed that the arrest and detention of Unachukwu Austin, legal counsel to The Nation Newspapers who was rendering his professional service to his client was indefensible.
The House therefore mandated the IGP to offer him a written apology on behalf of the Nigeria Police.
It equally encouraged the IGP to continue with the investigation on the veracity of the letter and he should get to the root of the matter with a view to prosecuting anyone found to be involved in any criminal conduct.
NP/Uche Iheanacho |
