Friday Olokor and Adelani Adepegba
Some civil rights groups and lawyers have asked the Senate to refer Senator Dino Melaye’s certificate controversy to the police for proper investigation.
A lawyer, Macdonald Akhirome, in an interview with The PUNCH, noted that the upper chamber was not constitutionally empowered to probe the controversy..
He queried the purpose of the senate inquiry into the issue, pointing out that it may end up as a jamboree without achieving any meaningful purpose.
The activist noted that the purpose of the investigation should determine whether the senate should conduct it or not.
Akhirome said, “The normal legal procedure is that investigation falls within the purview of the executive, that is the police, but the senate could conduct an inquiry.
“Since the issue borders on crime, the senate is not empowered to investigate that. It is not within their purview, that is not the business of the senate.”
He added, “If the purpose of their investigation is to prosecute, they cannot prosecute. Is the inquiry meant to abuse the person of the senator or to cooperate with the executive to prosecute? What is the purpose of their investigation when they are not empowered by law to investigate and prosecute? It is better for them to allow the police to investigate the matter, if they were not out to ridicule the senator.”
Speaking in the same vein, a security analyst, Ben Okezie also admonished the senate to hand over the investigation to the police, insisting that the red chamber lacked the capability to handle the probe.
He observed that many senators had had a series of allegations against them which were not probed by the senate, noting that the decision to probe Melaye was taken because the issue was raised during a plenary.
“They (senators) should know that they don’t have the capability to carry out such an investigation. What they should have done is to refer the case to the Inspector-General of Police who would now ask one his departments to investigate the case,” he insisted.
By deciding to probe the certificate mess, Okezie hinted that the senate may be trying to cover up the controversy.
“Now that they want to handle the investigation themselves, how are we sure it would be credible? How are we sure there won’t be a cover up? How are we sure the senators in the committee are not his (Melaye’s) friends? It amounts to nothing in terms of doing the right thing. If they want to do the right thing, hand him over to the police to investigate,” the security expert admonished.
Okezie said it would not be proper for the senate to handle the investigation, stating that it did not conduct the probe of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, but rather asked the Department of State Services to probe him.
