Senator Isah Misau, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial Zone, in a statement that was signed by his lawyer, Chief Godwin Obia, SAN, has stated he was ready to appear in court to defend the criminal charges against him by the Federal High Court in Abuja and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
The Inspector General of police, Mr Ibrahim Kpotun Idris and Senator Isiah Misau, have been in a running battle after the senator exposed alleged corrupt practices by Idris, accusing him of posting officers to oil and other multinational companies for a fee.
He also claimed the inspector had diverted money meant for the purchase of Armoured Personnel Carriers, Sports utility Vehicles and other exotic cars.
The lawyer also faulted the manner in which promotions are done in the force alleging that officers pay bribe to the inspector to get promoted.
In reaction to the accusations, the Federal government dragged the senator to court for making malicious allegations and defamation of character of the Inspector general of police.
The offense of the senator was said to be contrary to section 393(1) of the penal code.
Senator Misau in a statement made available to newsmen, through his lawyer, said he was being prosecuted for calling for the probe of the office of the IGP over alleged involvement in corrupt practices.
Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello had on Monday declined to order Misau’s arrest, though he directed the Attorney General of the Federation to serve a copy of the charge on the lawmaker.
Justice Bello subsequently adjourned the matter till Thursday to take the plea of the defendant in respect of five-count charge FG entered against him before the court.
Senator Misau commended the court for turning down what he termed “obvious unlawful application to issue a warrant of arrest”, and for directing the prosecuting authority to appropriately serve a copy of the charge on him.
Misau’s lawyer, Obia wondered why FG chose not to serve a copy of the charge sheet on an accused person whose particulars of residential and workplace addresses are well known.
The statement reads in part: “The morning of 17th of October, 2017, however resolved every unlikely doubt that could have inured in favour of the prosecution in this saga when on being briefed by the distinguished Senator to represent him at the trial. The Distinguished Senator, in line with our counsel, visited the registry of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and magnanimously undertook to receive service of the copy of the charge, even though, the prosecution ought to bear that burden, but was shocked to the marrow that no one copy was left in the file of the court for service on the accused person, corroborating thereby our earlier assertion of a strategic step at another gestapo operation in the offing.
“Except for interests other than the ends of justice underlying the pending charge against Senator Hamma Misau, we hereby call on the prosecution to play its prosecutorial cards face up, as we shall gladly love to meet them in court to articulate our robust defence against the obviously spurious allegations against the distinguished senator.
“As if the palpable odium of intiating a vacuous criminal charge against a whistle-blower, no less a person than a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not bad enough, the prosecuting authority, obviously urged on by the Inspector General of Police, threw pretension to adherence to democratic tenets of the rule of law when it sought from the court, albeit most illegally, to obtain summons against Senator Misau, while deliberately withholding service of the copy of the charge on the Senator, an obvious stratagem conceived to frame up all manner of false allegations tailored to suit the obvious purpose of yet another gestapo strategy to use state powers to swoop on the Distinguished Senator and keep him out of circulation”.