THE SENATE Committee on Police Affairs has debunked reports of a rowdy during the budget defence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, before Joint Committees on Police Affairs and Police Institutions at the National Assembly Complex on Friday, January 17th, 2025.
In a statement clarifying the event, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abdulhamid Ahmed Mallamadori, explained that it is the normal procedure to come through a motion to intervene during such a presentation, which he said could not be interpreted to be “rowdy or tense”.
“There was nothing rowdy or tense at the budget defence of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, before the Joint Committees on Police Affairs and Police Institutions at the National Assembly Complex,” Senator Mallamadori said, noting that “if, for any reasons, such a motion is defeated or overruled, it ends there. That cannot be the basis of any successful and meaningful protest afterwards.”
According to Mallamadori, what transpired was that the IGP made a presentation which members clearly understood and were in sympathy with. “They have accordingly promised to make a case to the Committee on Appropriation for improved funding for the Nigerian Police,” he said.
According to the Senate Committee Chairman, it had already been unanimously decided that the IGP should summarise his presentation since every member of the Joint Committee already had the full complement of the presentation and since there were many agencies within the Nigerian Police establishment also defending their budgets before the Committee.
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“There were therefore no grounds for any protests against what was transpiring to warrant the use of the word tension to describe the proceedings.
“A possible misinterpretation of the consensus and a walkout by a single member does not constitute anything tense or rowdy”, the statement added.
“The Committee has heard the IGP loud and clear and would make a case to the appropriate quarters on the requests of the Nigeria Police in terms of budgetary resources that can make it add value to national security provisioning”, Senator Mallamadori added, pointing out how important it is to debunk any perception of a tense or rowdy session.
