The Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, has blamed communication gap for the reopening of the Kogi State House of Assembly despite a resolution of the National Assembly sealing it.
The Police chief put forward this position after appearing before the adhoc committee set up by the House of Representatives to investigate comments made by the Attorney-General of the Federation that the National Assembly was wrong to have taken over the duties of the state assembly.
The House demanded to know why the IG ordered the reopening of the Kogi State House of Assembly after the National Assembly invoked Section 11 Subsection 4 of the constitution and ordered its closure.
“I think the area of disagreement is that we were not able to distinguish who were the members and who were the staff of the Assembly.
“We didn’t want to prevent the staff of the Assembly from coming into the Assembly and that day that they came in, I’m sure it was an oversight and we shouldn’t have allowed them to do that,” the IGP said.
The Inspector-General of Police further said that he only sought advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation.
At this point, journalists were excused and the meeting continued behind closed doors.
At the end of the closed-door meeting, the House of Representatives Majority leader, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, spoke to the newsmen.
“The hearing is a process; this is the first day and there are several sides to it. We have taken the position of the IG, the Attorney-General will be with us hopefully on Monday and we will now come to a decision,” he said.
The IG also reaffirmed his position to newsmen after the meeting, “We felt that there was a communication breakdown somewhere and I actually told them (lawmakers) that I would not do anything to abridge the constitution.
“I am a law officer and I have sworn on the constitution to obey the constitution at all times.”
