THE running battle between the Nigeria Police Force and the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) reared its ugly head again in Ondo State, a few days ago. According to a media report, the state’s commissioner of police, Undie Adie, on January 13, ordered the arrest of the state commandant of PCN, Alawoki Lukeman Oluwatobi, after he was introduced as part of the delegation of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) visiting the commissioner. The commissioner described the PCN he represented as an illegal organisation.
The report of the incident followed a petition by the former Minister of Justice and Attorney- General of the Federation, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, asking him to compel the police to obey the orders of the court, amongst which is to unseal the corporate headquarters of the organisation. He reminded the AGF that the PCN is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and accorded recognition by the Federal Government and international bodies.
In particular, the former AGF noted that the House of Representatives had passed a motion asking the police to vacate the headquarters, but they have not. It is also reported that the AGF had written the police to vacate the office; again they ignored the letter. The ex-AGF claimed that the police have had a running battle with PCN for years, leading to about 15 cases in court, all of which the PCN won, while gaining over N50 million in damages against the police.
Chief Agabi noted that despite a subsisting court order, the commissioner of police went ahead to arrest the state Commandant of PCN, while on a courtesy call with other affiliate bodies of the NYCN. The police beef against the PCN is clearly so deep that the police commissioner did not even mind that the commandant was his visitor, and at least deserved some courtesy. If he was not actuated by malice he would have merely ignored his visitor, but he chose to follow in the footsteps of his superiors in Abuja, who allegedly ignored subsisting judgments.
If there are judgments in place declaring the PCN a lawful organisation, what circular was the police commissioner referring to, that gave him the audacity to disobey the court orders? When he majestically declared the PCN an illegal organisation, was he sitting on appeal against the judgment of the court, or was he merely declaring his organisation’s prejudices against the PCN as a diktat. Perhaps, because he is a police officer, he wears his pip with arrogance. We hope the court will deal with the contempt appropriately.
But even before the necessary steps are taken to bring the commissioner to constitutional order and obedience to the rule of law, we urge the AGF to call the police to order. It is totally unacceptable that, perhaps because they bear arms, and form a major plank for execution of judgments, they would choose which judgment to obey. If truly there is a N50 million in damages in the books for PCN, we urge the AGF to help turn it in for the beneficiary, at least to help mitigate the police cruelty against it.
The AGF who had urged the former IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to unseal the office of PCN “in absence of any pending appeal or proof of stay of execution” must follow up by ensuring his directive is obeyed. Clearly, this is one instance where the AGF ought to guide the Federal Government to follow the rule of law, in his capacity as the chief law officer.
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