Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, was given a three-month prison term by an Abuja-based Federal High Court for violating a legitimate court order.
The court concluded that the IGP should be committed to prison and maintained in custody for three months or until he complies with an order it issued on October 21, 2011, according to a judgment by Justice M. O. Olajuwon on Tuesday.
Following a lawsuit filed by police officer Mr. Patrick Okoli, who claimed he was forcibly and illegally retired from the Nigerian Police Force, the IGP was sentenced to prison.
“The contemnor shall be committed for another term and until he purges his contempt,” the court said. “If at the end of the three months, the contemnor remains refractory and still refuses to purge his contempt.”
Even while the court upheld the Police Service Commission’s (PSC) recommendation that Okoli is reinstated into the Force, Justice Olajuwon highlighted that the IGP disobeyed the directive.
As special and general damages for the unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional deprivation of his rights and privileges as a Senior Officer of the Nigeria Police Force from 1993 until the present, the court further ordered the applicant to pay N10 million as special and general damages.
