The session of the Federal House of Representatives on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 degenerated to rowdiness and eventually a shouting match after a member of the House, Hon. Aliyu Madaki moved a motion aimed at stopping Assistant Inspector-General of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu from assuming any rule in the conduct of the forthcoming election.
Madaki posited thus following several recent statements attributed to Mbu to the effect that for any policemen killed, twenty civilians will have to pay – utterances Madaki deems unconstitutional and negating the Electoral Act.
The motion which was titled ‘Violation of the constitution and Disrespect for the Rule of Law by Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Mbu Joseph Mbu’ also besought the Police High Command to take disciplinary measures against Mbu.
Madaki said: “The house notes with regret the statement by Joseph Mbu, AIG, which was widely reported in national dailies and which amounted to a violation of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“Aware that the constitution guarantees immunity to state governors and their deputies and therefore, no authority or person, including courts of law, has the right not to accord governors such privileges.
“Mbu allegedly directed all officers and men in his command to disregard any immunity being enjoyed by any governor, which action amounted to a violation of the constitution.
“The house is concerned about the statement allegedly made by Mbu that if one police officer is killed during the 2015 elections, between 20 to 100 citizens would be killed in return.”
Once he was done, another member of the hose, Linus Okorie voiced opposite opinion, challenging the Madaki’s motion on the grounds that AIG Mbu was not on ground to defend himself.
This did not go down well with certain members of the house drowned Okorie’s voice, leading to a shouting competition from opposing sections of the house.
An attempt by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha to quell the noise proved abortive as the voice vote he called for resulted in another round of verbal exchanges.
Ihedioha later sent the motion to the House Committee on Police Affairs to further look into the matter.
