FORMER governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda, on Tuesday, gave the House of Representatives the details of his ordeals in the hands of the officers and men of the state police command during his visit to Bauchi on November 24, last year, when he was put under house arrest along with associates and others by the police.
Yuguda, who appeared along with other stakeholders with similar experiences before an adhoc committee put in place by the House of Representatives to investigate “alleged cases of harassment, intimidation and cross breach of constitutional rights of indigenes and residents of Bauchi State by the state police command under the Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Zaki
Yuguda declared that the police even rushed to the Federal High Court the following morning to get an order to arrest him but that the intervention of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police at the Force Headquarters in Abuja saved him from being arrested, saying he was escorted out of Bauchi because the state was already charged.
According to him, “I must say that if I had not taken the decision to leave, Bauchi would have been in flames as the whole town was getting charged by the illegal and false imprisonment of my good self by the police commissioner. Several other people would have lost their lives as a result his unprofessional,unethical and despicable manner.”
He lamented that the CP acted in such an ignoble manner despite the fact that he had written official letters to all the heads of security agencies, including the Inspector General of Police and the Commandant of the Civil Defence Corps who provided him with enough personnel for his trip to Bauchi as a former governor.
Yugada pointed out that it was the same CP who suddenly came up with a claim that his life was under threat and that he should restrain himself to his Government Reservation Area (GRA) after which he came to barricade the roads.
However, when the CP was invited to defend the allegations leveled against him, he said he was innocent of all the allegations, saying he should be allowed to go back for consultations after which he would come back with his own submission.
The committee, while granting the request, however, warned him that if any case of further harassment or intimidation by the police was reported under the command, he would be made to face the full weight of the law.
He said when he called the CP on phone to find out what the problem was, he only told him that he was acting on the orders from above.
Yugada urged the Honourable Gabriel Onyenwife-led committee to properly investigate “this professional misconduct, violation of the relevant provisions of the constitution by the commissioner of police and any such persons associated with this behavior.”
He also wanted the committee to “investigate the circumstances leading to how a commissioner of police would ignore the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria as it relates to citizens’ right under his area of command and place them under serious deprivation and intimidation.”
According to the former governor, “the committee should investigate why a commissioner of police would be so insubordinate to IGP’s directive by taking me and others into false imprisonment.”
Other stakeholders, including a close associate of the governor, Mr Garba Umar, who is also the national secretary, Buhari Organisation, Alhaji Shuaibu Ibrahim, Secretary General, Tricycle Riders Association, students’ representatives, former commissioners and a serving senator, Ali Wakili among others, condemned the action of the police command in the state.
The committee then adjourned hearing till next week Thursday.
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