Following the raid of Elder Statesman, Edwin Clark’s house in Abuja, by officers of the Nigerian Police; The Inspector-General Of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has tendered an apology on behalf of the Police, claiming the officers acted on their own volition, and were not instructed to do so by the Police high command.
The raid was said to have been carried out by six armed policemen from the “Tactical Squad” of the Inspector-General of Police, with a search warrant that they had information on good authority that Pa Clark was stockpiling arms.
One of Clark’s sons, David, who confirmed the development on his father’s home, said, “Policemen came with a search warrant to search the house that he was stockpiling arms; there is nothing like that. So they have been searching the whole house, they just left now. They searched for about two hours.
They came at 1pm and left at 3 p.m., about six of them. After they finished searching they left. The boys that came appeared worried that they did not see any reason why they should search the house.”
However, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the detention and probe of the four policemen that carried out the raid and also issued a statement to that effect.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
RE- SEARCH OF THE HOUSE OF ELDER STATESMAN, CHIEF EDWIN CLARK BY THE POLICE TODAY, 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2018.
IGP sends high powered delegation of a DIG and other Senior Police Officers to apologize to the Elder statesman
Further to the earlier Press Statement from the Nigeria Police Force on the directives of the Inspector General of Police for immediate detention and Investigation of the Four(4) Police Personnel (including a Senior Police Officer) and an informant involved in the unauthorized, illegal and unprofessional misconduct in the Search of Chief Edwin Clark’s Residence in Asokoro, Abuja, today 4th September, 2018.
The IGP as stated in the Press Statement was not aware and did not authorize the search and has therefore sent a delegation of Senior Police Officers, led by DIG HABILA JOSHAK (DIG DOPs) along with some Commissioners of Police who visited the Elder Statesman, Chief Edwin Clark and apologized on behalf of the Nigeria Police Force and the IGP for the misconducts of the said Police Personnel and the attendant embarrassment the search has caused on the Elder Statesman and his family. The delegation was received by Chief Edwin Clark and the apology was accepted by him.
Furthermore, the Inspector General of Police has directed that while the Four (4) Police Personnel are in Detention and being investigated and tried within the Force Disciplinary Procedures before appropriate punishments are meted out to them, the IGP has directed the immediate parade of the informant(Suspect) on Wednesday 5th September, 2018 in the presence of the press and the public, before his prompt arraignment and prosecution in Court.
