Efforts by the Senate to save embattled Senator Dino Melaye over his ordeal with the Nigerian Police accounted for why the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, refused to honour the summons of the upper chamber, impeccable sources have said.
The online platform recalls that Idris has refused to appear before the Senate the two times he has so far been summoned, rather sending the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations), Joseph Habila.
Even attempts by the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has been rebuffed by Idris, whom the country’s number three man said has refused to speak with him on the phone.
Reports say that the plan was to call for a closed door session once Idris showed up.
At the closed door session, the leadership of the Senate was said to have agreed to plead with Idris through any means it will take to soft pedal on Melaye’s case.
One of the sources said: “If Idris had stepped into the Senate, there is no way he would have left without being persuaded by the senators to drop the charges against Melaye.
“The game plan was to beg him with everything possible, including kneeling down and prostrating for him.
“The plot, obviously, had been leaked to the IGP by those who want Melaye sanctioned heavily and put out of the way, hence Idris’s decision to shun the Senate.”
As reported earlier by The Eagle Online, Melaye, the representative of Kogi West Senatorial District, has stepped on several toes, both within and outside the Senate chamber.
Melaye had used his closeness to Saraki to deal with perceived enemies in the Senate and took many government officials to the cleaners.
According to reports, before the Police arrested Melaye in his residence in Abuja, the Senate leadership, led by Senator Philip Aduda, agreed to lead a powerful delegation to Idris on the matter, but the efforts proved abortive.
Sources say some senators sympathetic to Melaye’s cause have started backing out.
This was observed at Wednesday’s plenary session when the Senate President called on senators to make contributions on the absence of IGP before the Senate.
There was pin drop silence in the Senate until the Deputy Leader, Ibn Bala Na’Allah, decided to react.
The Senate had resolved to summon the IGP over alleged inhuman treatment of Melaye.
The Police in statement issued after his arraignment in Abuja before a Magistrate Court on Wednesday vowed to arraign Melaye in Lokoja, Kogi State over illegal possession of firearms without further delay.