IGP agrees to appear before senate panel

Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police (IGP), has backed down on his decision not to honour the summons of the panel which the senate set up to probe some allegations levelled against him.

Isah Misau, senator representing Bauchi central, had accused the number one police officer in the country of collecting money illegally from banks and oil firms.

The lawmaker also claimed that Idris was having sexual affair with some officers.

The IGP denied the allegations but he refused to honour the invitation of the panel, which threatened to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Speaking with state house correspondents on Friday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Idris said he would appear for the “sake of having respect for the senate”.

“We are discussing with our legal team. Obviously, if there is need, we are going to appear for the sake of having respect for the Senate. I will appear before them,” he said.

Idris said he met with Buhari to discuss the security situation in the country, especially the preparation for the November 18 election in Anambra.

He said 21,000 police officers would be deployed for the election.

“Obviously I am here to discuss with the commander -in-chief on the security challenges we are having and how we will face these security challenges adequately,” he said.

“The security challenges are obvious. You know we are having elections in Anambra state and we are having challenges in various part of the country especially some of these issues of kidnapping and these are things I discussed with the president and the measures taken to address it squarely.

“For the Anambra election, obviously we are deploying a lot of police officers, about 21,000 police officers to be able to provide adequate security.

“We are deploying our water boats to take care of the waterways, we are deploying our helicopters to take care of the aerial surveillance and we are deploying our conventional policemen and special police units to take care of situations on ground and by the grace of God we are going to have a successful and peaceful elections in Anambra state.”