The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba Usman, on Tuesday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has no pending petition or criminal matters with police anywhere in the country.
Usman stated that Tinubu is not a suspect to the Nigeria police, hence, cannot be put on trial.
The reasons why police did not go after the APC presidential candidate were contained in an affidavit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by a counsel, Wisdom Emmanuel Madaki.
The suit was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Center for Reform and Public Advocacy against the IGP.
They instituted the suit over the IGP’s alleged refusal to prosecute Tinubu over allegations bordering on perjury.
The suit dated and filed on July 4, on behalf of the group in Abuja by Mike Nwankwo, has the Nigeria Police Force and the Inspector-General of Police as 1st and 2nd respondents.
The nongovernmental organisation said that the legal action against the police was necessitated by the IGP’s refusal to take action on its petitions against Tinubu over an offence it claimed the presidential candidate was indicted by the Lagos State House of Assembly in 1999.
The applicant maintained that by sections 214 and 215 of the constitution and section 4 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, the police have the statutory responsibility to “prevent, detect and investigate criminal allegations whether brought to their notice by individuals, person or persons, corporate bodies, institutions etc.”
Consequently, the applicant in the suit marked, FHC/ ABJ/CS/1058/2022, is asking the court for “an order of mandamus compelling the respondents to comply with sections 31 and 32 of the Police Act and Section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015, in respect of alleged crime laid out in complaint of the applicant encapsulated in the letter of June 16, 2022, received by the respondents on the same date and titled, ‘Demand for Criminal Prosecution of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu under Sections 191,192 and 463 of the Criminal Code Act, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 consequent upon the findings of the Lagos State House of Assembly Ad-Hoc Committee, 1999’.
The applicant claimed that by Section 31 of the Nigeria Police Act, the respondents are duty bound to investigate alleged crime brought to them and report their findings to the Attorney-General of the Federation or of a state, as the case may be, for legal advice.
Applicant added that by section 32(1) of the Police Act, “A suspect or defendant alleged or charged with committing offence established by an Act of the National Assembly or under any other laws shall be arrested, investigated and tried or dealt with according to the provisions of this Act, except otherwise provided under this Act”.
Applicant claimed it has the legal competence to invoke the jurisdiction of the court to compel the respondents to discharge their legal, constitutional and public duties in line with the law.
He lamented that its two letters dated June 16 and 27 to the respondents wherein he demanded the prosecution of Tinubu over alleged perjury have been ignored, adding that respondents also “have not notified the applicant of any action taken on the said letter”.
But in a counter affidavit to a suit filed by a civil group seeking order of mandamus to compel the IGP to arrest and prosecute Tinubu for perjury and certificate forgery, the IGP said the police have no power to prosecute Tinubu without any known offence committed.
Although the affidavit disclosed that Tinubu has no pending petition before the police, however, the IGP admitted having two different petitions from a civil group, Incorporated Trustees of Center for Reform and Public Advocacy requesting for arrest and prosecution of Tinubu for alleged perjury and certificate forgery related offences.
