The Nigeria Police Force has denied allegation that it plans to arrest and inject Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the National Assembly to death.
Mr Melaye had in a Twitter post on Tuesday accused the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris of deploying men to carry out his arrest
Describing the allegation as mischievous, malicious and hateful, the police in a statement on Wednesday advised Melaye to open up if he had committed any crime that would warrant his arrest rather than “whipping up sentiments to distract the public”.
“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to a statement in some sections of the media credited to a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Kogi West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Dino Melaye, captioned ‘IG plans to arrest me, inject me to death’.
“The Force is categorically stating that the statement is mischievous, malicious, capable of misleading the public and laughable, there was no such order from the Inspector General of Police or any plan by the Force to arrest Senator Dino Melaye and inject him to death but if the senator knows he had committed any crime or he is aware of his involvement in any crime, he should come out and confess and face the legal consequences instead of whipping up sentiments to distract the public,” a statement from the police read in part.
The statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Jimoh Moshood, while stating that the police see such defamatory, mischievous, malicious and reckless statement as untrue, ridiculous, mischievous and unfortunate, appealed to members of the public to disregard Melaye’s statement in its entirety.
The police said Melaye should know that his statement constitutes a criminal defamatory offence, hate speech and hateful conduct.
“He should however as a lawmaker be law abiding and desist from un-senatorial and lawless utterances that cannot be substantiated with facts,” it added.
Moshood however stressed that the Inspector General of Police (IG) will not be distracted by statements from the likes of Melaye but will continue to ensure that the rule of law prevails in all matters.
