THE Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has been sentenced to three months in prison by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The presiding judge, Justice M. O. Olajuwon, gave the sentence on Tuesday, November 29.
The court found the IGP guilty of disobeying a valid court order.
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The sentence followed a suit filed by a police officer, Patrick Okoli, who was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian Police Force.
Justice Olajuwon held that the IGP should be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months or until he obeys an order made on October 21, 2011.
The Judge noted that despite a court ordering the reinstatement of Okoli back into the Police Force and the Police Service Commission (PSC) also recommending the same, the IGP refused to comply with the order.
The court had also ordered that N10 million be paid as special and general damages to the applicant.
The development is coming a few weeks after the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa was also sentenced for contempt of court.
In November, Justice Chizoba Oji of an Abuja High Court ordered that Bawa should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, for disobeying a court order.
The judge held that Bawa was in contempt of the order of the court made on November 21, 2018, directing the Commission to return to an applicant his Range Rover and the sum of N40 million.
However, in a subsequent ruling, Justice Oji set aside Bawa’s conviction after hearing an application brought by the EFCC chairman.
A reporter with the ICIR
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