Abuja Court Sentences Nigeria Police Chief Usman Baba to Three Months in Prison for Defying Order

A high court sitting in Abuja has sentenced Usman Baba, the inspector-General of Police, to three months in prison for defying a court order. 

Mobolaji Olajuwon, the presiding judge, issued the ruling on Tuesday. He held that the IGP should be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months  until he complies with an order issued since October 21, 2011.

“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”, the court held.

This followed a suit filed by Patrick Okoli, a former police officer who claims he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian Police. 

Justice Olajuwon remarked that although the Police Service Commission recommended Okoli’s reinstatement, a decision that was upheld in the court, the IGP refused to carry out the court directives. 

The court also ordered the payment of N10million to the Applicant, being special and general damages for the unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional denial of his rights and privileges as a Senior Officer of the Nigeria Police Force from 1993 till date. 

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