The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has directed the the Inspector-General of Police to reopen the Peace Corps of Nigeria’s office in Abuja, which has been under police lock for the past two years.
Justice Stephen Adah noted that the police, as a law enforcement agency, should obey court orders.
Counsel for the Peace Corps of Nigeria, Dr Joshua Musa, had accused the police of disobeying two orders of the Federal High Court directing them to reopen the corps’ headquarters.
He expressed dissatisfaction that the police had continued to violate the orders despite two letters written to them by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
The Appeal court adjourned the matter till May 28 for hearing of the appeal by the police and counter-appeal by the corps.
Read also: Buba Galadima claims crowds at APC rallies are “purchased” with 20-40 million
While the police is requesting a stay of execution on the judgement of Justice Gabriel Kolawole that the corps’ headquarters should be reopened, the Peace corps wants the Appeal court to refuse the police an audience until they had complied with the earlier orders directing them to reopen the office.
It will be recalled that the Federal High Court had in two different judgements delivered by Justices Kolawole and John Tsoho in 2018 ordered the police to leave the office on the grounds that sealing it was unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.
In reaction to the contempt of the police, Justice Tsoho declined to give further audience to the police in respect of the case until his order is obeyed, while Justice Kolawole imposed a fine of N12.5m on the police for acting in bad faith in the matter.
Leave a Reply