by Adelani Adepegba, Abuja

Police have advised Nigerians not to be carried away by the purported audio of the N96m bribery scandal involving Farouk Lawan and Femi Otedola aired by Channels TV.

The Force Headquarters stated that the audio recording, which was relayed on Monday by the private TV station, was not enough evidence to prosecute Lawan.

Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who spoke on the relay of the audio recording in Abuja on Tuesday, asked for the full video component of the recording which should start from the beginning of its recording.

The police spokesman said the force would not interfere with the ongoing investigation by the Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House of Representatives as long as the committee did not do anything that would jeopardise police investigations.

“We are not interested in what the committee is doing,” he stressed.

He added that the House enjoyed autonomy and so could do whatever it deemed right in the interest of the country.

“For us as a security organisation, we are focusing on our ongoing investigation and in the course of the committee's investigation, if they stumbleon something they feel could be useful to us, I am sure the Inspector-General of Police would be glad to have such information.

“We are not monitoring them and would not interfere as long as they don't do anything that could jeopardise what we are doing,” Mba explained.

On why it is taking the police too long to conclude investigation, Mba stressed that with the evidence so far obtained, it would amount to a waste of time and public resources to rush to court.

He said, “You just don't rush to court for the fun of charging people to court. That is why courts are congested and that is why we don't make progress. It does not make sense. It is unproductive; it is a waste of public resource.”

Source: Punch
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