Court Adjourns Hearing On Suit Challenging Police ‘Commercialization’

A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday fixed February 7, 2023 for hearing in the suit challenging the proposed commercialization of services of personnel of the Nigeria Police.

Justice Inyang Ekwo directed one of the defendants in the matter, Parkway Project Ltd, to file their response to the suit before the next adjourned date.

The suit was brought by the Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement (CEFSAN) through their counsel, Yusuf Adamu Ibrahim, challenging the establishment and planned take-off of the Police Specialized Automated Services Programme (POSSAP).

Joined in the suit as defendants were the president of Nigeria, the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Nigeria Police Council, the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission, the National Assembly, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Parkway Projects Ltd.

The centre said the platform, which would enable the police to provide protection, escort and guard services for fees to the rich and affluent persons in Nigeria, was a usurpation of the powers of the National Assembly under Sections 4 and 214 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as Section 4 of the Police Act, and therefore unconstitutional.

It said monetization of police services for the rich would be discriminatory and distract the Force from its specific objectives as provided in sections 13, 15, 17, 42 and 214(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the Constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

In their counter affidavit filed by Samuel Mallum of the Legal Section of Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), the police asked the court to dismiss the suit for being without merit.

He maintained that “statutory provisions support and affirm the powers of the police to receive and make income and revenues from her operations.”