Senate told to send Melaye’s alleged certificate scandal to police
Civil rights groups and lawyers have urged the Nigerian Senate to turn over Dino Melaye’s certificate controversy to the police for proper investigation.
Melaye's alleged forgery of his certificates has remained a trending report in the country in the last one week.
The Punch reports that a lawyer Macdonald Akhirome noted that the upper chamber was not constitutionally empowered to probe the controversy and also queried the purpose of the senate inquiry into the issue.
Akhirome pointed out that the Senate probe may not achieve any meaningful purpose.
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Akhirome said: “The normal legal procedure is that investigation falls within the purview of the executive, that is the police, but the senate could conduct an inquiry.
“Since the issue borders on crime, the senate is not empowered to investigate that. It is not within their purview, that is not the business of the senate.”
He added: “If the purpose of their investigation is to prosecute, they cannot prosecute. Is the inquiry meant to abuse the person of the senator or to cooperate with the executive to prosecute? What is the purpose of their investigation when they are not empowered by law to investigate and prosecute? It is better for them to allow the police to investigate the matter, if they were not out to ridicule the senator.”
Ben Okezie, a security analyst, agrees. He insisted that the upper house of legislature lacked the capability to handle the probe.
“They (senators) should know that they don’t have the capability to carry out such an investigation. What they should have done is to refer the case to the Inspector-General of Police who would now ask one his departments to investigate the case,” he insisted.
By deciding to probe the certificate mess, Okezie hinted that the senate may be trying to cover up the controversy.
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“Now that they want to handle the investigation themselves, how are we sure it would be credible? How are we sure there won’t be a cover up? How are we sure the senators in the committee are not his (Melaye’s) friends? It amounts to nothing in terms of doing the right thing. If they want to do the right thing, hand him over to the police to investigate,” the security expert advised.
NAIJ.com recalls that the Senate resolved to probe Senate President Bukola Saraki and Senator Dino Melaye over allegations against them some days back.
While Senate is investigating Saraki over claims that he allegedly used his office to seek revenge against Nigeria Customs Service boss Hameed Ali, Melaye is being investigated over claims that he may have forged the certificate with which he ran for the legislative seat.