Police Defy Court Order, Fail to Reinstate Dismissed ASP
Twenty-two years after his disengagement from the Nigeria Police Force, Abdullahi Abubakar has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), seeking his intervention on the enforcement of a court judgement that nullified his sack and ordered his reins
In a letter titled: ‘Reinstatement of Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar to the Nigeria Police Force,’ the petitioner, through his lawyer, Victor O. Odjemu, said the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, sitting in Kano, had delivered judgement on May 21, 2014, ordering his reinstatement within 30 days, but since then, the Police have refused to comply despite an advice from the Police Service Commission to that effect.
Abubakar said his ordeal began in 1992 when he was an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) with the SIB, Kano. He said, “A query was issued to me relating to disobedience, which I promptly replied. No disciplinary committee was put in place to investigate me, but I was demoted to the rank of inspector.”
According to him, two years after (1994) there was an allegation leveled against him, to the effect that he was bribed to the tune of N10, 000.00, which he also denied. “Again no investigative panel was constituted to look into the allegation and hear me,” he said.
Brandishing a letter with Ref. No CP.6700/KS/T.I/184, dated February 7, 1995 titled: ‘Letter of suspension for corrupt practices’, Abubakar said he was issued the letter along with five others, and that several letters of appeal written by him thereafter to have his case reviewed failed to yield results.
It was at this point that the embattled police officer commenced the legal process of seeking redress. He first approached the Federal High Court sitting in Kano on June 22, 2011, where the case was eventually transferred to the National Industrial Court on February 27, 2013.
Among his statement of claims, the plaintiff had sought a declaration that the “suspension by the defendants without an opportunity to defend himself is a violation of his fundamental right to fair hearing and, therefore, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
The matter was said to have first come up in the court on July 9, 2013, where the defendants were absent and unrepresented. During the subsequent dates: September 25, 2013; January 23, 2014; February 26, 2014; March, 19, 2014 and March 26, 2014, the defendants could not enter appearance in the suit despite the fact that hearing notices were said to have been duly served on them.
In the suit No NICN/ KN/3/2013 between Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar versus the Police Service Commission and ANOR, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Kano delivered judgement on May 21, 2014 in favour of the plaintiff.
In the judgement delivered by Hon. Justice Lawal Mani, a certified true copy of which Daily Trust on Sunday obtained, the court declared the purported suspension of Abdullahi as null and void and that the client was still in the service of the Nigeria Police Force.
“The purported suspension of the plaintiff by the defendants from the Nigeria Police Force sometime in 1995 or thereafter without being charged, arraigned or convicted before by a court of law for any criminal offence is unlawful, illegal, null and void,” the court declared in its judgement.
Apart from ordering that the plaintiff be reinstated into the service of the Nigeria Police with his full rank, position and benefits, the court also ordered the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to pay his salaries, allowances and
Apart from ordering that the plaintiff be reinstated into the service of the Nigeria Police with his full rank, position and benefits, the court also ordered the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to pay his salaries, allowances and entitlements from February 7, 1995 till date
entitlements from February 7, 1995 till date.
Following the court judgement, the Police Service Commission, in 2015, wrote to the plaintiff, informing him of the lifting of his suspension and reinstatement into the Nigeria Police Force.
A letter dated June 11, 2015 with Ref. No: PSC/L/741/1/29 titled: Re: ‘Reinstatement of Mr. Abdullahi into the Nigeria Police Force,’ which was signed by the Permanent Secretary/ Secretary to the Commission, Aminu Aliyu Bisalla, stated: “By this reinstatement, the police is advised to comply with the order of the court, which compliance falls within the legal responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force and the Ministry of Police Affairs.”
In another letter signed by CP Adekunle J. Oladunjoye, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, titled: ‘Letter of Reinstatement into the Service of the Nigeria Police Force’, the police curiously referred to an earlier letter from the Police Service Commission, quoting Ref. no PSC/15241/1/27, purportedly dated June 11, 2015, requested Abdullahi to report to the commandant, Police College, Kaduna for what it called ‘refresher course.’
The letter stated that the PSC, in the letter under reference, had “Carefully considered your (referring to Abdullahi) appeal and approved your reinstatement into the service of the Nigeria Police Force, with effect from May 21, 2014.”
“The decision to recall you as conveyed in this letter is derived from the power conferred on the Police Service Commission as contained in Section 6(i) of the Police Service Commission (Establishment etc) Act 2001.”
Also, sequel to the ruling by the National Industrial Court sitting in Kano, a consequential order directing the judgement debtors (the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police) to reinstate the plaintiff to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police was granted by the same court on December 9, 2015.
The order, which followed an ex-parte application by counsel to the plaintiff to that effect was based on the applicant’s prayer that the he be reinstated to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, being the rank he was promoted to as per the Police Senior Staff list printed on August 14, 2012.
However, in spite of the directive by the court stating that all the orders contained in its judgement be carried out within 30 days of delivery, Abdullahi said the Nigeria Police Force had refused to comply, prompting his lawyers to petition the Inspector-General of Police on July 13, 2016.
It is against this background that Abdullahi’s lawyers wrote to the IGP, urging him to use his good office to comply with the judgement order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, stating, “Our client has suffered untold hardship as a result of the failure and delay in so doing.”
The latter, signed by Victor O. Odjemu, managing partner of PP: Law Partners, has been copied the Police Service Commission and the registrar of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Kano division.
Attempts to speak with the police authority to respond to Abdullahi’s matter failed as several phone calls and a text message to the Force Public Relation’s officer, Jimoh Moshood, were not responded to.