There was high stake drama in court on Tuesday as Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court, Abuja, sentenced the Inspector-General of Police Usman Baba to three months in prison for disobeying a court order.
Delivering judgement, Justice Olajuwon said the order was consequent upon a suit filed by a former police officer, Patrick Okoli who claimed that he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigeria Police Force.
The presiding judge of the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory submitted that the Inspector General of Police Baba should be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months or until he obeys an order earlier delivered on October 21, 2011.
According to the court, “If at the end of the three months, the contemnor remains recalcitrant and still refuses to purge his contempt, he shall be committed for another period and until he purges his contempt”.
Justice Olajuwon stated that though the Police Service Commission (PSC) recommended Okoli’s reinstatement into the Force, a decision that was reaffirmed by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Usman Baba refused to comply with the order, a decision the court strongly frowned at and which has compelled it to sentence the IGP.
