Police Finally Moves to Reabsorb Disengaged Officers After Court Judgement

The Nigeria Police Force has agreed to obey the judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria on the reinstatement of some officers who were forcefully retired from service in 2021.

The ex-officers, who were members of Courses 33, 34, and 35 of the Nigeria Police Academy, were said to have been forcefully retired from the police service in 2021 when they had not attained the mandatory age of 60 and 35 years in service.

The affected ex-police officers challenged the action of the police at the NICN, Abuja, and received a favorable judgment in April 2022.

However, the defendants, the IGP, the Police Service Commission, and the Secretary of the Police Force, allegedly refused to enforce the judgment.

The claimants returned to court seeking an order over the IGP’s disobedience to the court, which had ordered the police force to reinstate them into service since 2022.

Following the NICN verdict, it was gathered that the police force ordered the concerned officers to report to Abuja in August 2024 for documentation with the expectation that they would be immediately reabsorbed into the force. However, after the documentation, nothing further was heard from the force on the matter.

In the Certified True Copy of the latest court committal proceeding held last week, the claimants, represented by their lawyer, Adeleke Agbola, SAN, prayed the court to maintain the status quo (reinstatement of the officers) pending the hearing of the contempt case.

He said, “This is a contempt proceeding. Some urgent issues have come up since the filing of this application. The PSC (Police Service Commission) used a circular that the initial date of entry is what will be used to calculate their (ex-cops) date of entry, not when they got into the police academy.

The judgment of the court is that the date when the policemen got into the academy.

He said, “There is no appeal against the judgment. I urge the court that the status quo be maintained pending the hearing of these committal proceedings to determine if there has been a breach on the basis that the judgment of the court must be obeyed.”

But counsel to the NPF, Ade Adedeji SAN, told the court that efforts were being made by the police to obey the court order, expressing assurance that the judgment would be obeyed for the concerned officers. He also stated that he had sworn an affidavit in that regard.

He added, “We have taken steps to obey the court’s judgment. The judgment is not challenged as there is no appeal. It is final. The circular has nothing to do with the claimants. It is without prejudice to the parties in this matter.

“We do not intend to do anything to overreach the court. We intend to comply with the judgment of the court and have sworn to the affidavit in this regard. All the claimants have been posted. I give an undertaking that all the defendants are law-abiding and will comply with the judgment and the rule of law.”