Group tackles Senator Misau over comment on Okiro, urge him to clear self

Following the faceoff between the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, and Senator Isah Hamma Misau, over allegations of corruption on one hand and desertion of duty on the other, a group, Salvage for Development Initiative (SDI), has challenged the Senator to clear his name and explain how he managed to contest election in 2011 when he was discharged from the force in 2014, among other issues.

The group at a press conference addressed in Lagos by its Program Director, Abdul Lateef Sanni, and National Secretary, Hammed Temilade, wondered how and when DSP Mohammed Isah Hamma changed to Senator Isah Hamma Misau, without any official change of name notification published in any newspaper submitted to the Nigeria Police Force and for the general public? Asking, “what documents/certificates did DSP Mohammed Isah Hamma tender to the party and INEC for clearance as Hamman Isah Misau to stand for election?”

The group also wondered why the Senator would drag a former IGP and Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), Sir Mike Okiro, who left the force in 2009, accusing him of not accounting for N300million voted for security during the 2011 National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when the appointment was as a private citizen.

Picking holes in the accusations of the Senator, the group said, “It is highly laughable that Senator Misau alleged that the IGP makes N10 billion monthly, and by extension, N120 billion every year from posting and promotion of police commissioners and use of the police by corporate organisations and highly placed individuals across the country without concrete evidence. One would have expected him to corroborate his claim by coming up with verifiable proofs if to be taken seriously.

“It is also laughable that Misau would in his unbridled intention to drag the IGP’s integrity in the mud, drag another respected former IGP, Okiro into his mudslinging.

“It is suffice to know that Okiro was appointed head of security at the then ruling party’s 2011 National Convention when the PDP was experiencing security challenges, not as a police officer, and he had retired in 2009, but as a private citizen and the exercise was carried out without blemishes. This was prior to his appointment as chairman, PSC in 2013.

“It is also trite that he who must come to equity must do so with clean hands; available records have indicated that Senator Misau has series of skeletons in his cupboard.”

Raising many issues requiring the Senator’s response, the group alleged that Sen. Misau “brandished a purported letter of retirement, written and signed by the PSC, confirming his retirement from the service in 2014, yet he contested for the 2011 general election as a Senator in Bauchi Central Senatorial District as a candidate of the defunct ACN in Bauchi state, an election which he lost.

“Let him explain the disparity in the date of his purported retirement and his contesting for a Senatorial seat in the 2011 general elections. Let him also explain how he managed to contest for elected office while still in the service of the Nigeria Police Force.

“His name while in service, according to the police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, was Mohammed Isa Hamma, with police number AP No. 57300, Deputy Superintendent of Police. How and when did he become Isah Hamma Misau?” They asked.

The group further alleged that Senator Misau was aide-de-camp, ADC, to three ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, (Modibo, Aliero and Bala Mohammed) until 2010 during which time he allegedly acquired several landed properties, especially, in the FCT.

They insisted that “it is very clear from investigations that the names ‘Isah Hamman Misau’ are deliberately used by the culprit to hide the true identity of the former DSP Mohammed Isah Hamma from the Police Force and the general public.

“Let him also debunk, with proofs, the claims by the Nigeria Police Force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, that he ‘was parading a forged retirement letter and everything Misau said is false,” they said.

They advised the Senate ask the Senator to return to the Nigeria Police Force to face disciplinary committee and answer all the charges bordering on serious misconduct, unprofessional wrong doings, “as earlier contained in our press statement released on August 27, 2017.”