The police have dismissed
insinuations that it is delaying the prosecution of the suspected thugs that stole the senate
mace.
On April 18, hoodlums invaded the
senate chamber and ran away with the mace, which is the legislative symbol of
authority.
Both the house of representatives
and senate subsequently set up a joint ad-hoc committee to investigate the
incident.
Submitting the report of the
committee to the house on Tuesday, Betty Apiafi, a lawmaker from Rivers state
and co-chairperson of the committee, expressed concern that no prosecution had
been made more than two months after the incident.
She also told the lawmakers that
Sulu-Gambari Abdul, divisional police officer at the national assembly, was
redeployed after briefing the committee on the incident.
Abdul had told the committee when
he appeared before it that six suspects were arrested and had been handed over
to the force headquarters.
“As soon as the DPO briefed the
lawmakers during the first meeting, he was transferred out of Abuja to the
north-east as,” Apiafi said.
“I don’t see how we can recommend
the prosecution of the policemen on duty (that fateful day) even when the DPO
that was posted to the national assembly and briefed the committee was removed.
“As it is now, nobody can tell us
what has happened to the six men that were arrested and vehicles seized.”
Reacting, Jimoh Moshood, police
spokesman, said that investigation into the incident is still on.
“Investigation is ongoing … the
police is still conducting investigations,” he revealed.
“There is a DPO at the national
assembly. The DPO is an office. As we speak there is a DPO there.”
Probed further on why the DPO was
redeployed, Moshood replied: “I have answered you. Thank you so much.”
The former DPO had also told the
committee that security operatives and lawmakers conspired to steal the mace.
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