Victor Ekim, a former vice chairman of the FCT Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, has said the Nigerian police have no right to declare any citizen wanted.
He said this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, following the decision of the Police to declare Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West, and seven others wanted.
Ekim said what the police ought to have done was to send a letter to the Senate President, requesting that he produces Senator Melaye or go to court.
“I would say that amounts to trivializing the issue. Dino Melaye is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I think they have these appellation ‘distinguished’ attached to their names.
“He draws a salary from the taxpayers’ funds, so he can be reached through the Senate President. The proper approach is to send a letter to the Senate President, requesting that he produce Dino Melaye to the police authority for questioning.
“A second way to go about it is to present a court with the allegation against Dino Melaye and the evidence the police has gathered against him.
“But the police cannot arrogate unto itself the power to prosecute and pass a sentence by way of declaring a citizen wanted.
“That has been struck down by a court of law in the Federal Capital Territory where honorable Justice Musa declared the powers of the EFCC to declare a citizen wanted, illegal.
“The Police on its own does not have a right to declare a citizen wanted, it means you are the complainant, the investigator and the one declaring him wanted so you’re overriding judicial powers,” he stated.
