The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IGP

  • Police can’t stop Chibok protests – Court

    Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Gudu, Abuja, on Wednesday held that the Nigeria Police Force lacks the powers to stop rallies for abducted students of Government Girls’ College, Chibok, Borno State.

    Justice Abubakar Talba, in a judgment declared that the Public Order Act, Cap 382 Laws of Nigeria 1990, which the police purportedly relied on, “does not authorize policemen to disrupt rallies or procession on the abduction.”

    The judgment was on a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by rights activist and former House of Representatives member, Dino Melaye, challenging the disruption of the May 9 rally in Abuja.

    The judge declared unconstitutional the assault on Melaye by policemen on May 9.

    The suit marked: CV/1521/14 and in which the Inspector General of Police and Commissioner of Police, FCT Command were listed was not defended by the respondents.

    The judge held that since the respondents failed to file any counter process to the one filed by Melaye, it was an admission of the allegations made against them by the applicant.

    He consequently ordered the IGP and CP, FCT to “tender a written apology to the applicant as provided for under Section 35(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

    The judge also granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from further “harassing, molesting, intimidating, abducting, arresting, detaining and prosecuting the applicant in respect of peaceful rallies or procession in Abuja or any part of Nigeria.”

     

  • Cleric petitions CJN, IGP over property demolition

    The Director-General, Police  Assistance Committee of  Tradesmen/Women, Prophet Martins Oni has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloma Mukhtar and the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar over the alleged demolition of his property.

    He is urging them to investigate the authenticity of an Enrolment Judgment of the Lagos State High Court on the basis of which his house was brought down.

    Oni, the General-Overseer of the Chosen of the Lord Ministry, said property worth N1.2billion was allegedly stolen by hoodlums during the demolition.

    According to him, he was in his office in August 2009 at Plot 15 Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Ijesha when some people who claimed to be bailiffs from the Lagos State High Court showed him the judgment.

    The Enrolment of Judgment, dated October 30, 2008, was in a suit numbered ID/2801/92 between Mr Farayola and Alhaji G. Owoade. It declared the claimant as entitled to a Certificate of Occupancy of a land at Obalodu Street, Ijeshatedo, measuring approximately 430,849 square meters.

    The judgment also restrained the defendant from trespassing the land or interfering with the claimant’s enjoyment of it; and awarded N500,000 as general damages for the acts of trespass, as well as cost of N250,000 awarded against the defendant.

    Oni said he was not named in the case and was never served any hearing notice. Besides, he said the land belongs to him, having acquired it 17 years ago from Owoade (the defendant in the suit).

    According to him, he still has the land’s documents, including the Survey Plan, House Plan, receipt of purchase, building plan, the Ijeshatedo Family Land Receipt, and other documents from the state government.

    He said he constructed a four storey building on the land, housing four mini-warehouses, offices, 14 shops, and his church, all of which were brought down.

    “Nobody informed me that the land and my building were in contention of any sort. The crowd who were armed overpowered me and my workers and commenced the week-long demolition,” Oni said.

    He said he sent his lawyers to the High Court “and the feedback is always the same, that the case file was not seen….,” adding that he is wondering whether the judgment is authentic.

    Oni said he took ill after the property was demolished and was flown abroad for treatment, and having recovered, he now wished to reclaim his property.

    “If not for God, I would have been a dead man having to watch my property destroyed. With every sense of humility, I appeal to you sir to use your good offices, and as the defender of the defenceless, to do something urgently to salvage the situation,” Oni wrote.

    He had earlier written to the Senate President David Mark, who acknowledged the petition, saying: “The President of the Senate has noted the content of your letter and advises you to exercise your fundamental rights in a competent court of law.”

    The police confirmed it has begun investigation into the petition. A letter from the Principal Staff Officer to the Inspector-General of Police, Murtala Mani (a Deputy Commissioner of Police), to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan, reads in part: “The Inspector-General of Police directs you treat, please.”

    A senior police officer at Zone 2, who craved anonymity, said a letter had been written to the Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court, seeking to authenticate the judgment and to get further details as to the circumstances in which it was delivered.

    The source said the letter was sent over seven weeks ago and that the High Court was yet to respond. “We may have to send a reminder soon, but we’re still expecting to hear from them,” the source said.

    When contacted, the Chief Registrar, Mrs Iyabo Akinkugbe, said: “If the letter is here, you can be sure it is being treated, but no comments.”

  • The Sun editor sues IGP, others for detention

    The Associate Editor of the Sun Publishing Ltd, Mr. Ebere Wabara, has sued the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP) Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar and Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice at a Federal High Court in Lagos, for the enforcement of his human rights.

    Joined in the suit, filed by his counsel, John Nwokwu from the chambers of Bamidele Aturu, was the Chief Magistrate of Abia State.

    In an originating summon dated April 1, the applicant, Wabara and co-applicant, Chuks Onuoha, are praying the court to enforce their human rights as enshrined in the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

    The origination summon was brought, pursuant to sections 35, 39 46 (1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); articles 6, 7(2) and 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, cap. A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 as well as in Order II Rules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009.

    The plaintiffs sought a declaration of the court barring any police officer from further arresting or detaining him and his co-applicant (Chuks Onuoha).

    Wabara and Onuoha also sought an order of the court setting aside the bench warrant issued against them by the Abia State Chief Magistrate Court, Umuahia.

    One of their prayers is for “A declaration that no officer serving under the operational command of the 1st Respondent should arrest and detain them on the basis of a bench warrant purportedly issued by the 2nd Respondent on March 31, in respect of charges of sedition or criminal defamation preferred against them’’.

  • IGP Abubakar preys on our fears

    IGP Abubakar preys on our fears

    THE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has created a hobgoblin out of the clamour for state police. Marking his second year in office, Mr Abubakar strongly declaimed upon the subject of state police without offering a single tangible opinion in support of the campaign to fundamentally restructure the country’s unitary form of security. Barometer was not present when the IGP gave an interview to the police in-house magazine, Chief Detective, wherein he offered the censorious, one-sided argument that Nigeria was not mature enough for state policing. But it is safe to say that he made his points perhaps with the customary sang-froid that has become his trademark.

    It is now clear that the IGP is unalterably opposed to state police. He thinks it could undermine the peace, stability and even unity of the country. But he is merely preying on our fears, absolutely unmindful of the damage unitary policing has caused such a huge, culturally variegated and religiously diverse country. He premised his opposition on this strange dubiety: “We are not yet ripe for state police. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be state police; we are not yet ripe for it. I’ll cite several examples. Check countries which are operating the state police. How many years of independence? Take Britain, take the United States, and take any European country that you can call. We are talking of 2,000 years in the United States. How old are we? Do they have the challenges we have? Do they have the issue of where you come from? Do they have the challenges of ‘I was born in Lagos, but I’m not a Lagosian?’ Do they have the religious crises that we have? I’m a Muslim, you’re a Christian? Do they have the level of tribal differences in the states that I’m Ijaw, you’re Itsekiri, you’re Igbo, or you’re Eka-Igbo?”

    This writer has been a solid supporter of Mr Abubakar. But he is appalled by the airiness with which he made his argument. The US is of course not 2000 years old, and perhaps the newspapers which quoted him made a typographical error. However, one of the main problems with Nigeria, whether in terms of safety and security, or even politically, is our inability to take into cognisance our differences as a factor in designing structures and solutions for our peaceful and progressive cohabitation. Nigeria does not have to have similar challenges with a country or group of countries before it applies the same successful methods. We can apply different or same strategies like any other country irrespective of similarities or differences in challenges.

    Mr Abubakar gives the impression, for instance, that on a hypothetical tomorrow, the country could evolve to such a level that a person’s ethnic background would be irrelevant in his political calculations. State policing, he insinuated, would have to wait for that glorious morning. But any cursory ethnological study of the countries of his example would reveal that Nigeria could never hope to be like the US in its founding, nor hope to adapt more than the principles and values that have shaped that country’s existence, such as justice and fairness. Mr Abubakar virtually gives the impression, in spite of tons of facts to the contrary, that the Nigeria Police Force is a veritable instrument of Nigerian unity. He exaggerates very profoundly, as the extra-judicial murder of Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, shows, and as the anomie fuelled by the police in Rivers also illustrates to our collective dismay.

    There are indeed many who would argue that had the leadership of the police over the years summoned the character needed to police intelligently along fair and just lines, the security problems assailing us, not to talk of the campaigns against unitary policing, would not be as strident as they have become. Mr Abubakar’s views are doubtless cogent, firm and unambiguous, even beguiling, but they are not quite as informed as his remarkable conviction indicates. In fact, if anything, they are dangerously and retrogressively improper.

  • Police promote two DIGs, three AIGs

    Police promote two DIGs, three AIGs

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has announced the promotion of two new Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIG) and three Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG).

    The new DIGs are – Mr. Michael E. Zuokumor who until his promotion was the AIG in charge of Zone 4, Makurdi; and Mr. Jonathan Johnson who was formally in charge of Zone 6, Calabar.

    They filled the vacancies created by DIGs Philemon Leha and Peter Gana who retired from service last week.

    Those promoted from the rank of Commissioner of Police to the rank of AIG are – Fana Abdullahi Salisu, Musa Abdulsalam Daura and Kakwe Christopher Katso.

    The IGP enjoined the newly promoted senior officers to prove to the nation that they deserve their new ranks, as he called on them to see their present elevation as an invitation to greater responsibilities.

    Abubakar charged them to intensify the war against terrorism and other violent crimes in the land.

    The IGP expressed confidence that the newly promoted officers would bring to bear their professional competence, discipline and experience in their new assignment.

     

  • NBA tasks NSA, IGP on Rivers court explosion

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on the National Security Adviser and the Inspector General of Police to unearth the perpetrators of the court explosion in Rivers.
    This information is contained in a statement issued by the NBA President, Mr. Okey Wali, in Abuja on Tuesday.
    “The NBA is shocked at the news of the explosion in the Ahoada High Court and the alleged case of arson in the courtroom of the Okehi High Court, both in Rivers State,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the NBA as saying in the statement.
    It said that it would not accept such usual comments as “the police investigation is continuing.”
    The statement also stated that it would not stand by and watched such act of violence and impunity which were inimical to the rule of law and a threat to democracy.
    The association said the act underscored the need for government to take the security of lives and property more seriously.
    “The lackadaisical attitude accorded to the security of courts nationwide calls for concern,’’ the body stated.
    The NBA stressed the need to secure the premises of courts of justice across the country.
    “We demand an immediate and thorough investigation and expect a report, even if, interim, within 30 days of the date of the incidents.
    “Attacks on our courts will not be swept under the carpet,’’ the statement added.

  • NBA to Fed Govt: probe bombing of Rivers court

    NBA to Fed Govt: probe bombing of Rivers court

    It’s a ‘desecration of the temple of justice’

    Lawyers give 30-day deadline

    Lawyers are angry over the bombing of courts in Rivers State.

    Their umbrella body, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) challenged yesterday the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to conduct a thorough and prompt investigation into the incidents

    The body expressed shock at the bombing of the High Court in Ahoada and the suspected arson at another High Court at Okehi.

    NBA President Okey Wali, (SAN), in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the news of the brazen and dastardly act of bomb explosion in court premises amounted to desecrating the temple of justice.

    Wali called for an immediate probe of the incident and asked that the report be made public within 30 days.

    The statement said: “The Nigerian Bar Association condemns these acts of brigandage and views them not only as sacrilegious, but also as a desecration of the temple of justice.

    “The Nigerian Bar Association reiterates that, on no account will it ever idly stand by and watch these acts of violence and impunity to our courts, which are tantamount to an affront to the rule of law and threat to our democracy.

    “This underscores the need for government to take the security of lives and property more seriously. The lackadaisical attitude accorded to the security of our courts nationwide is now brought to the fore.

    “The need to secure the premises of the hallowed courts of justice across the nation should be taken more seriously.”

    Wali particularly urged the NSA and the IGP to employ all security apparatuses at their disposal in apprehending those behind the attack and bring them to justice.

    “The NBA will not and cannot be satisfied with the usual mantra of, ‘the police investigation is continuing’.

    “We demand an immediate and thorough investigation and expect a report, even if interim, within thirty days of the date of the incidents. Attacks on our courts will not be swept under the carpet.

    “We are shocked. It is a total desecration of the temple of justice; we condemn it in its entirety and we are calling on the President and NSA and IGP to investigate it. We expect that the report of the investigation will be available within 30 days; it should not be the usual police report that the report is being awaited.”

    The NBA suspected that politics may have been at the root of the violence.

    It said: “We have always called on politicians to play by the rules. Whatever grievances anybody has, he should go to court.”

  • Rights violation: Court indicts IGP, police

    A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday indicted the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigerian Police Force for violating the rights of a businessman.

    The court also awarded N4 million as damages to the businessman, Mr. Usman Baba, who along with his son, Abubakar Usman, instituted a case against the police authorities for illegally detaining them for six days.

    Both men, resident in Abuja had, in the suit instituted on July 26, 2013, said the police illegally detained Baba over a business transaction between them and one Hosein Chahakandi.

    The men, through their counsel, Mr. Francis Mgboh, said that they went into a business relationship with Chahakandi, which involved the sale of a large quantity of carpets.

    They, however, told the court that they soon discovered that the business agreement between them and Chahakandi lacked sincerity and therefore, called it off.

    In calling the business off, the counsel had told the court, that Baba and his son returned all the carpets in their custody to Chahakandi in the presence of a witness but were pursued and harassed by the police at Chahakandi’s instance.

    Mgboh said the police eventually arrested and detained Baba for several days at Asokoro police station, adding that the detention resulted in the deterioration of the man’s health.

    He therefore prayed the court to declare that the detention of his client for six days was unlawful and a violation of his right to freedom.

    He also urged the court to order the police authorities to tender an unreserved public apology to his clients as well as award N500 million as damages to them.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that none of the defendants in the suit appeared in court or had any legal representation while proceedings in the case lasted.

    In his judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, said that it was “most evident from the failure of the respondents to file counter affidavit that they have accepted the bond of the applicants’ averments.”

    “It is hereby declared that the respondents have violated the applicant’s fundamental right to liberty.

    “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from arresting, detaining, molesting and intimidating the applicants is hereby granted,’’ Halilu said.

    He held that the action of the police in arresting and detaining the first applicant for a long period without justification was condemnable and must be compensated for.

    According to him, the action of the Nigerian police, most times, is tyrannical and unprofessional, and the police must learn to limit itself within the confines of the law.

    “I hereby award the sum of N4 million against the respondents jointly,’’ Halilu ruled.

     

  • Chief missing in Osun

    A chief, the Alala of Oba-Ile in Osun State, Olaniyan Adelere, is missing.

    This is the aftermath of a bloody communal clash between Oba-Oke and Oba Ile in Olorunda Local Government Area (LGA).

    The Oloba of Oba-Ile, Oba Michael Adeeyo, yesterday told the Assistant Inspector General of Police (IGP), Zone 11, David Omojola; Commissioner of Police Mrs. Dorothy Gimba, and Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Security Matters Amos Adekunle, during a visit to the troubled communities that the chief was last seen on Friday.

    The 54-year-old chief, who is the headmaster of St. James Primary School, Osogbo, got missing between Oba Ile and Osogbo after attending the weekly community meeting last Friday.

    The Oloba urged the police to help locate the chief’s whereabouts, saying his community is ready for peace.

    The AIG, police commissioner and Adekunle, who had earlier visited the burnt palace of the Oloba of Oba Oke, Oba Dahunsi Iyioola, told the rulers of both communities to control their youths.

    Omojola said: “The youths must obey laws and listen to their traditional rulers and elders because there can only be progress in an atmosphere of peace. Whoever breaks the law shall face the music.”

    Oba Iyiola assured them that his subjects would not avenge the attack on his community, saying they leave vengeance to God.

    Responding to Oba-Oke’s appeal to Governor Rauf Aregbesola to rehabilitate the community, Adekunle said the community would not be allowed to bear its cross alone.

    Mrs. Gimba, in her assessment of the situation in the communities, said: “Peace has returned here and we will do everything humanly possible to sustain it.”

  • ‘Resolve Taraba crisis’

    A group, the Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC), has warned that the unfolding political development in Taraba State will lead to anarchy, if not resolved.

    NHRC Coordinator Samuel Olorunwa said the people have not enjoyed the dividends of democracy since Governor Danbaba Suntai was involved in an accident.

    He said: “We are worried that the Inspector General of Police has not investigated a forged letter to the House of Assembly, which was said to have been written and signed by Governor Suntai.

    “We, in the human rights community, call on the IGP to inform the public on who wrote the letter.”