Cultism: Saraki alleges plot by IGP to implicate him

The frosty relationship between the Senate and the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, worsened yesterday as the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, alleged that the former was planning to implicate him in cultism offence. Saraki, in a statement read on the floor of the Senate, said the alleged plot against him by the IGP was disclosed to him by the Governor of Kwara state, Alhaji Abdufattah Ahmed.
According to him, the IGP is anchoring the plot on moving cultists already arrested in Ilorin, investigated and expected to be prosecuted in Ilorin in line with Kwara state anti-cultism law to Abuja with the sole purpose of forcing them to change their statements in implicating him.
The statement read in part: “My Distinguished colleagues, there is an issue which I need to bring to your attention very urgently.
“Last night, my state Governor, Dr. Abdulfatai Ahmed, revealed to me an information at his disposal that a group of suspects who had been in police cells for several weeks for cultism and whose investigation had been concluded with prosecution about to commence under the State law based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Ministry of Justice, were ordered to be transferred to Abuja this morning.
“According to the information available to the governor, the InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. Idris Ibrahim, directed the Commissioner of Police in Kwara state to immediately transfer the men to the Force Headquarters. The plan, as the Governor was made to understand is that, under duress, the suspects would be made to alter the statements they already made in Ilorin. “They will then be made to implicate the Kwara state government, and in particular, myself, in their new statement.
“This plot is part of the strategy by the IGP Idris to settle scores over the declaration by this Honourable Chamber that he is not qualified and competent to hold any public office, within and outside the country and that he is an enemy of Nigerian democracy based on his usual disrespectful conduct towards lawful authorities. “In my own view, this plot is an act of desperation, blackmail, intimidation, abuse of office and crude tactics aimed at turning our country into a Police State where top officials cannot be made to obey the law, follow due process and subject themselves to constituted authorities.” Irked by the development, senators one after the other from the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan to the Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, and others condemned the alleged plot and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene “immediately in the interest of democracy.”
In his remarks, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided during debate on the alleged plot, said: “We all know that the Parliament is the temple of democracy. “We have the responsibility to our people not only to preserve our democracy but to also ensure that it is purifi ed. What the Senate President has raised today is an exposure of some of the things that are wrong with our democracy which we need to halt.
“It is our responsibility as a Parliament to ensure that we protect the rights of our citizens to ensure that we make progress as a nation, especially on the issues of human rights and democracy.”