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,
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.
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