The Nigerian Police on Tuesday disclosed that it could take up to 10 years before the issue of mace theft in the Senate’s chamber is unravelled.
Appearing before National Assembly Ad-hoc committee investigating the mace theft and invasion of the Senate by hoodlums, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the IG Monitoring Team, Abu Sani, explained that investigation of the invasion could linger for 10 years.
Sani told the lawmakers that there is no link between those people who stole the mace and the people arrested.
According to him: “Investigation is not yet concluded because there are some certain facts that we needed to conclude the investigation.
“It could take ten years before we can conclude it.”
Sani told the panel that the suspects are still at the Police Command and was yet to meet with them.
He added that part of issue with mace theft is that the security architecture of the Senate chamber is left for the Sergeant-At-Arms, saying to avoid such again, other layers of security needed to be involved.
The panel then demanded for the appearance of the Officer handling the matter at the Police Command.
Earlier, Senator Mohammed Ndume, who was fingered by the one of the Sergeant-at-Arms on the issue of mace theft, called for closed session before the panel, which was granted.
After the Session, Ndume told the joint committees he was surprised and worried about what happened in the chamber on that day.
He added that there is the need for leadership to check the security architecture of the chamber.
Ndume said: “I’m surprised.
“I didn’t know in my whole years in this National Assembly that we are that exposed.
“For some people to just come in and take the mace and run away.
“For me to prevent somebody or to advice somebody not to do his job is just totally out of place because I don’t have the authority to do that.
“I did not do that, I cannot do that and I’m not supposed to do that.
“It’s just like saying now that because you are a father to a policeman who is supposed to prevent crime and arrest criminals, then you as his father when you see a criminal and he commits crime and you say don’t arrest him and he refuses to arrest and he comes to say I didn’t arrest the criminal because my father said I should not.
“It doesn’t make sense.
“I really want to sit down and write to this committee but it is confidential.
“If you say it in the face of the camera, somebody that is trying to circumvent that will now read through and know how to circumvent it.”