A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to three months in prison over disobeying a court order.
Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon issued the ruling on Tuesday, 29 November, 2022 following a suit filed by a former police officer, Patrick Okoli.
Okoli claimed he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian Police Force.
Justice Olajuwon noted that though the Police Service Commission recommended Okoli’s reinstatement into the Force, a decision that was affirmed by the court, the IGP refused to comply with the order made on October 21, 2011.
Baba was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to replace Mohammed Adamu who retired from the Nigeria Police Force in February 2021.
The court had also ordered the payment of N10 million 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 Nigeria Police Force from 1993 till date.
“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 held.
