A House of Representatives panel has commenced investigation into alleged harassment on some citizens of the state by the Bauchi State Police Command and yesterday summoned some officials of Bauchi state government to appear before it Thursday next week to explain the role of the state government in the matter.
The officials to be invited, according to the panel chairman, Hon. Gabriel Onyenwife, APGA, Anambra include Special Advisers to Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar on Economic Matters and that of Students Affairs.
The Secretary to the State Government, Bello Shehu Ilelah is also likely to be invited by the panel, following allegations that, he, along with other officials played various roles in the said harassment claims, said Onyenwife.
At the resumption of the hearing in Abuja ,Tuesday,24 January, 2017 the former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda and representatives of Buhari Youth Organization, Bauchi and Tricycle Association, Bauchi had in their submissions linked the state government and some of its officials to the ordeals they claimed to have gone through in the hands of personnel of the state police command last year.
They claimed that police officers on the instructions of the state Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Zaki, had then denied them freedom to associate and move about, when on a solidarity for Yuguda, who had arrived the state from Abuja on 24th November last year, after a successful medical treatment abroad.
Yuguda is specifically accusing the police of acting on the orders of the state government to deny him access to his house in Bauchi, despite that he had notified Zaki, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, Commandant General of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Chief of Army Staff and the state director of State Security Services (SSS) of his coming.
In spite of the approval granted him by the IGP and NSCDC boss to return on the date he gave to meet with his family and associates, the state police command barricaded his home and intimidated those that had come to welcome him, on claims that the solidarity snowballed to procession that threatened the peace of the state.
"On the 10th November 2016, I wrote security agencies of my intention to travel to Bauchi my home town and state to see my family and relations after my return from over one year medical treatment abroad.
"The IGP had given consent by deploying 10 mobile police men to escort me to Bauchi on the 24th and to stay with me up till the 28th of November as requested, while the Commandant General of the civil defence corps granted approval to the commandant in Bauchi to provide full security cover to me for the whole period of my stay in Bauchi.
"But surprising to me, the state command wrote me on the 23rd November 2016 advising me not to travel down to Bauchi for security reasons, and even as I decided to travel down, the officers prevented me from coming out of my house for the whole day, stopping also people from coming in and going out," he said.
He accused Governor Abubakar of masterminding his ordeal, just as the governor, he said, had upon assumption of office, accused him of stealing an aircraft belonging to the state government.
Yuguda had also regretted that the governor could also accuse his family of diverting 20 cars belonging to the government, after influencing his election as governor.
Having listened to all the grievances, Zaki, who said he was representing the IGP and himself, pleaded for time to enable him respond properly to the allegations against the state police command.
He is to return on Thursday with 47 copies of his written defence, according to Onyenwife, alongside the officials of the government.
Earlier, Hon. Bashir Baballe, APC, Kano had queried why Governor Ibrahim was not invited to the hearing as the chief security officer of the state.
But Onyenwife assured that the committee would do so if need be.
In a briefing after making submissions at the hearing, where he claimed to have also had a share of the police molestation, along with his supporters, Senator Ali Wakili, APC, Bauchi said it was needless inviting the state governor to the hearing when the sitting was widely advertised in the media.
"If the governor had anything to say, I am sure he should have come," he said.
Earlier, the House Speaker Yakubu Dogara had in an address, urged the committee to be fair, objective and thorough in the discharge of their duties.
Represented by the House Deputy Whip Pally Irase, Dogara further urged the people of the state to be confident that the legislature would thoroughly examine their grievances and aim at protecting their fundamental human rights.
Hon. Ahmed Yerima, APC, Bauchi had in a motion, accused the state police command of fueling political crises in Bauchi State 'by taking sides and harassing innocent citizen and denying them freedom of movement as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.'
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