The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has confirmed that he released two vehicles for the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari for her security and not for her personal use as alleged by the lawmaker representing the Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Senator Isa Misau.
Idris, who spoke through the police spokesman on Thursday, Jimoh Moshood, said he released a Toyota Sienna and Hiace bus to the aide-de-camp to the wife of the President, and not to the President’s wife.
A statement signed by Moshood on Thursday, read, “It is within the powers of the IG as stated above that when on January 17, 2017, SP Sani Baba-Inna, the ADC to the wife of the President requested two vehicles for police personnel for convoy movement and security purposes, two vehicles, Toyota Sienna Bus with Reg. No. NPF 2406D and Toyota Hiace Bus with Reg. No. NPF 3363D, were approved by the Inspector-General of Police to the ADC, wife of the President, SP Sani Baba-Inna, for the purposes requested and not to the person of the wife of the President or for her personal use as alleged by Misau.”
Misau had on Wednesday, while appearing before the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Investigation of Various Allegations Levelled Against the Police, the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission probing his allegations against the IG, claimed that the President’s wife requested and received two Toyota Prado SUVs from the police boss for her personal use.
Misau had told the committee, “I still have some contract papers that the IG himself submitted to the court, where the First Lady through her aide-de-camp requested a Toyota Hiace and a Sienna jeep. The same day that the ADC wrote, the IG minuted that she should be given two jeeps. And it is not part of the appropriation. If you look at the appropriation, there is nowhere they said the First Lady should be given two jeeps.”
Before the IG’s reaction, Mrs. Buhari had earlier on Thursday denied receiving cars from the IG, stressing that she still used her personal cars and that there was no truth in the claim by the senator.
In a statement by her Director of Information, Suleiman Haruna, she said there was no truth in the allegation.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to the news being widely circulated and attributed to a member of the Senate that two SUVs from the Inspector-General of Police were given to the wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, personally.
“The wife of the President wants to make it clear that since the assumption of office of her husband as the President of Nigeria, she did not receive these mentioned vehicles.
“Furthermore, the vehicles she is still using belong to the family and were the ones used during the campaign for 2015 elections including the one for her entourage.”