The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has filed a motion to set aside the committal order issued against him by an Abuja Federal High Court.
The court presided by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon had on November 29 sentenced the IGP to three months in prison for contempt.
The order followed a suit filed by a former police officer, Patrick Okoli, who claimed he was unjustly and unlawfully retired from the Nigeria Police Force.
The court sentenced the IGP for failing to comply with a court ruling which ordered the reinstatement of the former police officer.
In a motion filed before an Abuja Federal High Court on December 1, the IGP stated that he had not been appointed at the time the case was instituted and the reinstatement order in question granted.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, December 2.
Adejobi emphasised that the IGP has affirmed that the contempt proceedings were served via substituted means in November 2018 and January 2019 respectively, on the then Inspector-General of Police, and not on him as the incumbent.
The IGP, in his deposition, further noted that even before he assumed office, official steps had been taken by his predecessors towards complying with the reinstatement of the plaintiff, as ordered by the court.
He noted that this was evidenced by an official letter addressed to the Police Service Commission (PSC), on the approval of the then Inspector General of Police, as far back as 2015 and before the court order of November 29, 2022, requesting the Commission to issue a reinstatement letter to the plaintiff and also effect his promotion.
The IGP argued that the grounds for the contempt proceedings ought not to have existed ab initio.
The IGP assured Nigerians of his commitment to upholding the rule of law and respecting the country’s judicial authorities.
