The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris on Wednesday told the leadership of the Nigerian Senate that he owed them no apologies over his refusal to honour the summons from them for three consecutive times.

Idris had on Wednesday failed to appear before the Senate plenary, the third time in two weeks to clear the air on issues bordering on the spate of killings across the country and the inhuman treatment meted out to Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly.

The lawmakers consequently went into a closed-door session where they passed a vote of no confidence on the IGP, stressing that his disrespect for the Senate, negligence and actions were indications that he was not fit to hold any public office, both at home in Nigeria and abroad. The Senate described Idris as “Enemy of Democracy”.

But in a statement released late Wednesday by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Jimoh Moshood, Idris described the resolution of the Senate during the plenary that he was unfit for public office as blackmail, witch-hunt and mischievous.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to the media reportage of the Senate’s resolution on Senate Order Paper of today, Wednesday, 9th May, 2018 after a closed-door session that the ‘Senate declares the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, NPM, mni, as an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold public office within and outside the country’.

“It is urgently imperative that the Nigeria Police Force responded to this resolution of the Senate which is a deliberate blackmail, witch-hunting, unfortunate and mischievous.

The statement added: “The Inspector General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force will not be deterred by blackmail from any individual or group no matter how highly placed from the enforcement of Law and Order and ensuing that the Rule of Law prevails no matter whose ox is gored.

“The Nigeria Police Force therefore owes no apology to any individual or groups in its efforts to ensure preservation of law and order, supremacy of the law of the land, and make sure that all Nigerians are subject to the same law, no matter what their position is in the society.

“The General Public is hereby implored to disregard and discountenance the resolution of the Senate on the IGP as a deliberate blackmail, witch-hunting and mischievously aimed at casting aspersions on the hard earned integrity of the Inspector General and the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Nigeria Police Force, as a law abiding institution will continue to hold the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in high esteem but wishes to impress on the Senate not to harbour criminal elements among its fold or condone criminality.

“The Force will not be intimidated by any individual, groups or institution, constituents or otherwise to abdicate from its constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and property and the enforcement of law and order across the country.”