Reactions have continued to trail the Investigation Committee that will be set up by the Inspector General of Police to investigate incidents recorded during the rerun election held in the Rivers state.
A Port Harcourt lawyer, Christian Njigwum has told newsmen that the Police cannot be a judge in its own matter.
He said since the Rivers state Government had protested against the action of the Police and the role played by some of its Service commanders on election day, it is improper for the police to set up a committee on the same matter.
Njigwum said it should be the responsibility of a neutral organization to investigate such matters.
Njigwum also noted that the police has no right to investigate an alleged audio clip that purportedly had the voice of Governor Nyesom Wike.
He said the constitution does not allow for the Governor of any state to be investigated regardless of the crime committed.
According to him, “The panel of the Inspector-General of Police to probe into the issues arising from the December 10, 2016 election and the audio leak by Sahara Reporters is ineffectual.
“I say this because the IGP is incompetent in law to set up such a committee, reason been that the Governor had raised a protest about the role of the police in the election.
“Every Police officer that participated in that election that the Governor had raise concerns about are answerable to the Inspector-General. Therefore, the IG cannot be a Judge in his own court.
“There is a principle of law called fair hearing. It is not legal in law for the IG to interfere because the alleged crime on election day were committed by his men.”
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