President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, has reacted to an allegation that she received two Sports Utility Vehicles, SUVs, illegally from the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
In a brief response on Twitter, Mrs. Buhari said she was still using her personal cars, but stopped short of categorically confirming or denying the allegation.
Isah Misau, Bauchi-APC senator, made the allegation when he appeared before the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating allegations by the lawmaker against the IGP.
Mr. Misau said the IGP gave Mrs. Buhari the two vehicles, adding that the details of the donation were contained in the documents the police boss submitted to the court in the suit instituted against him by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, on behalf of the Federal Government.
“I still have some contract papers that the IG himself submitted to the court, where the First Lady through her aide-de-camp. ADC requested a Toyota Hiace and a Sienna jeep. The same day that the ADC wrote, the IG minuted that she should be given two cars. And it is not part of the appropriation. If you look at the appropriation, there is nowhere they said the First Lady should be given two jeeps,” Mr. Misau had told the committee.
“The letter came from the ADC to the wife of the President. The most unfortunate thing is that even in the letter, the ADC wrote that they wanted the vehicles for her ‘private engagements’. They wrote that they wanted Sienna and Hiace but the IG said they should be given two Sports Utility Vehicles. And he supplied the document to the court,” he said.
The police in a statement on Thursday said the vehicles, which they said were not SUVs, were given to police officers serving as aides to the wife of the President.
Mrs. Buhari on Thursday took to her Twitter handle, @aishambuhari, to comment on the allegation.
“I am still using my personal cars,” she tweeted.
She however did not make any comment on whether she received SUVs as alleged by the lawmaker or not.
The tweet was greeted by criticisms and questions from some Nigerians who asked whether she received the cars or not.
One of them @ShedrackFubara replied: “Haha the retractions have started. Aisha the question is: did you ask Idris for vehicles & did he purchase SUV’s for you? Where is Lai Moh?”
@HMCMmadudili replied: “Hello @aishambuhari using your personal cars doesn’t mean IGP didn’t buy you 2 SUV as misau asserted. Come up with stronger defense.”
@shalystar01 also wants Mrs. Buhari to take a stand on the allegation.
“Hello ma, the question is that DID IGP IDRIS BUY 2 PRADO JEEPS FOR U? A simple question that needs YES or NO. Do we need to ask GOOGLE??,” she tweeted.
No further official statement or comment has been made through Mrs. Buhari’s office.
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