Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, has gone to the court to file a motion to vacate the contempt charge and committal order that were issued by the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, last Tuesday.
The request was filed after the Federal High Court jailed the IGP for three months for disobeying a court order from 2011.
After Patrick Okoli, a police officer who had been forcibly and illegally retired from the Nigerian Police Force, filed a lawsuit, Alkali was sentenced to death.
In the motion submitted before the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) extensively outlined reasons why the orders should be set aside, noting that he had not been appointed into office as Inspector-General of Police when the case was instituted and the reinstatement order in question was granted, according to Force Public Relations Officer Olumiyiwa Adejobi, who made this known.
The IGP further confirmed that he was not served with the contempt proceedings as the incumbent in November 2018 or January 2019 but rather on the former Inspector-General of Police.
Adejobi in the statement said “The IGP in his disposition further noted that even before his assumption of Office, official steps had been taken by his predecessors toward complying with the reinstatement of Patrick C. Okoli, the plaintiff, as ordered by the Court.
As noted by him, this was evidenced by an official letter addressed to the Police Service Commission on the approval of the then Inspector General of Police, as far back as 2015, and before the court order of November 29th, 2022, requesting the Commission to issue a reinstatement letter to the plaintiff and also effect his promotion in line with the order of the Court and in the exercise of their statutory authority in that regard. Hence, the grounds for the contempt proceedings ought not to have existed, ab initio.
The IGP reassures Nigerians of his unalloyed commitment and steadfastness in defending the rule of law and respecting judicial authorities and hence, will not wittingly or unwittingly disobey any order validly granted by courts of competent jurisdiction”.
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