THE Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has denied reports that the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has disregarded court orders.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Tuesday, November 29 in Abuja, said the office of the IGP was not aware of any court order with respect to a matter making the round in the media.
The report had accused the IGP of disobeying a court order reinstating a dismissed officer of the Force.
But Adejobi stated: “It is instructive to note that the case in point concerns an officer who was dismissed as far back as 1992. This was a few years after the current IGP, Mr. Usman Baba, joined the Nigeria Police Force, based on available facts gleaned from the reports.
“The most recent judgment on the matter was given in 2011, which should ordinarily not fall under the direct purview of the current administration of the Force.”
Adejobi said media report of the order was strange and astonishing and the IGP had directed the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Force Legal Unit to investigate the allegation to ascertain the position of the court and proffer informed legal advice for prompt and necessary action.
He reiterated the commitment of the IGP to continue to uphold the rule of law and synergy with the judiciary to ensure quick dispensation of justice for an improved criminal justice system. N)
The Federal High Court in Abuja had on Tuesday, November 29, sentenced the IGP to three months in prison for disobeying a valid court order.
The court, in a ruling by Justice M. O. Olajuwon, held that the IGP should be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months or until he obeys an order it made since October 21, 2011.
“If at the end of the three months, the contemnor remains recalcitrant and still refuses to purge his contempt, he shall be committed for another period and until he purges his contempt,” the court ruled.
This followed a suit filed by a Police officer, Patrick Okoli, who was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Force.
Justice Olajuwon noted that though the Police Service Commission (PSC) recommended Okoli’s reinstatement into the Force, a decision that was affirmed by the court, the IGP refused to comply with the order.
The court had also ordered the payment of N10million to the applicant, being special and general damages for the unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional denial of his rights and privileges as a senior officer of the Force from 1993 till date.
