Nigerian police chief Usman Alkali Baba sentences to prison

Web Desk

30th Nov, 2022. 08:38 pm
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Inspector General Usman Alkali Baba disobeyed a court order to reinstate his predecessor.
Patrick Okoli had fought against being forced into retirement since 1992.
A judge ordered him to retire in 2011, but he has now been jailed for contempt of court.

The police commander Usman Alkali Baba in Nigeria was given a three-month prison term for defying a previous order to reinstate an officer who had fought for years to have his job back.

Since 1992, Patrick Okoli has fought against being forced into retirement.

In 2011, a judge eventually gave him the victory by ordering his restoration.

But because the directive was disobeyed, the High Court has now taken a harsh stance against the police commissioner, Inspector General Usman Alkali Baba.

It has decided that he should either be jailed for contempt of court or have the officer put back in his position.

It is unclear how old Mr. Okoli now is or what the reason was for, what a judge called, his “unlawful retirement”.

In his reaction to the ruling, police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said that “it was astonishing to hear” about his boss’s sentencing given he became head of the force in 2021 – nearly three decades after Mr. Okoli was “dismissed”.

The police force was studying the ruling, before deciding on what action to take, he added.

“It is instructive to note that the case in point concerns an officer who was dismissed as far back as 1992, a few years after the current IGP joined the Nigeria Police Force,” Mr. Aejobi said.