The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, has invited a former member of the House of Representatives and self-styled activist, Mr. Dino Melaye, to come and substantiate allegation of corruption he levelled against the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke.
Adoke has been accused of corruption, abuse of office and incompetence by a civil rights organisation, Anti-Corruption Network, which Melaye heads.
The organization had in an April 4, 2013 petition to Jonathan detailed Adoke’s alleged involvement in graft and “outrageous use of powers against public interest” and requested that he should be fired by the President.
The coalition sent a reminder dated April 11, 2013 to Jonathan, asking him to order an investigation into its petition and sack Adoke.
Consequently, the Inspector-General of Police Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, directed the Commissioner of Police in charge of X-Squad, Mr. Ali Amodu, to invite Melaye in his capacity as the Executive Secretary of the organization, for questioning over the petition.
The letter of invitation also indicated that the X-Squad was already investigating the allegations.
It reads, “This office is investigating a case of alleged corruption, abuse of office and incompetence leveled against the current Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (Mohammed Bello Adoke) by your organisation.
“In view of this, the Inspector-General of Police, has directed that a full scale investigation be conducted into the allegations by this office. Consequently, you are invited to meet the undesigned on Friday May 10, 2013 by 1000 hrs prompt in Room 1C – 053 First Floor, Police Headquatres, Louis Edet House, Central Area, Abuja.”
But when contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the AGF, Mr. Ambrose Momoh, told our correspondent that he could not speak on the investigation.
He said, “I am definitely not aware. You are the one putting me on notice now. I am just hearing it from you. As such, I cannot speak.”
Meanwhile, Adoke, on Friday said he was the one who invited the police to investigate the allegations levelled against him by Melaye.
In a statement by his lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN), Adoke said he wrote the Inspector-General of Police, asking him to investigate Melaye’s allegations.
The statement said, “Following the tendentious allegations made by one Mr. Dino Melaye against the person of our client, we wrote a letter dated April 23, 2013 to the Inspector-General of Police, wherein we requested the IG to cause an investigation to be carried out in respect of all the allegations made by the said Mr. Dino Melaye.”
The lawyer said a report on Friday by an online medium, which stated that President Goodluck Jonathan initiated a probe into the allegations against Adoke was false.
Quoting the letter written to the IG, the lawyer stated, “We have our client’s instructions to request you to kindly cause an investigation to be carried into all the allegations by promptly inviting the said Otunba Dino Melaye to come and justify all the allegations he has made which we hasten to say are nothing but criminal libel.”
According to the AGF’s lawyer, the investigation being embarked upon by the police is at the instance of Adoke and not the President as being insinuated.
He stated, “We want to place on record that this is not the first time our client will be submitting himself to a public enquiry because he has nothing to hide.
“On a past occasion when our client submitted himself, his accusers came apologising as they admitted that they were misled into publishing what was and is still patently false against him.
“While our client concedes the right of every individual to freedom of speech, it is our contention that the freedom goes with a duty. It is not a licence for anyone to make any unsubstantiated allegation against any individual.”