A National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the arrest of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Usman Alkali, and the Force Secretary, AIG Hafeez Inuwa, for disobeying the court order, which was regarded as contempt.
The court had earlier ordered the IG to reinstate some police officers, who are graduates of Courses 33, 34 and 35 of the police academy, who were said to have been forcefully retired by the force, but the court order was allegedly not obeyed by the IG.
The aggrieved officers approached the court and sought an order to nullify their compulsory retirement from the service by the IG. The court, presided over by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi, then ordered that the IG, the Police Service Commission, and the Force Secretary of the Police reinstate the forcefully retired officers.
However, since April 19, 2022, when the judgement was delivered, the IGP and other defendants have yet to obey the court order.
A recent order given by the court on June 8, 2023, a copy of which was made available to the on Tuesday, Justice Oyewumi berated the IG for the latter’s refusal to obey the court despite advice from the relevant stakeholders in the police force.
“Justice is not only for the affluent, it is indeed for the poor and vulnerable also. I pause to say that I wonder what type of head of an enforcement agency like the police, the Inspector General of Police is, if he finds it so difficult or so difficult it seems for him to obey a simple order of court. I also wonder the type of example he is laying for his officers if he as the head of the Nigerian Police Force has chosen/ elected to flagrantly take the law into his advised by the Police Service Commission and his own officer, the CP, Legal to comply. This I must say is preposterous and appalling.
