Deputy Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, the new acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), should be wary of the way his predecessor, Usman Alkali Baba, racked up contempt charges from the courts. The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja had recently ordered his arrest along with Force Secretary, Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) Hafeez Inuwa, for disobeying its order, which the court deemed as being in contempt. This latest verdict was in regard of some police officers forcefully retired from the service, but who the court ordered reinstated.

The retired police officers who were graduates of Courses 33, 34 and 35 of the police academy had approached the NIC seeking an order nullifying their compulsory retirement from service. The court on April 19, 2022, ordered that the IGP, the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Force Secretary reinstate the officers. But in a ruling on June 8, 2023, by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi that was made public last week, the judge berated Baba for refusing to obey the court order despite advice to do so from relevant stakeholders in the police establishment.

The court said it had it on record that following the April 2022 order, the PSC, which is “the statutory body that is vested with the power to appoint, promote and discipline the judgement creditors/applicants” mandated the IGP to comply. “It is equally noteworthy that the CP, Legal, the Head of Department of the Nigerian Police Force, had also issued a legal advice urging the Inspector-General of Police to comply with the order of this court vide a letter dated and (which) the Inspector-General received on 27/7/2022, yet he has refused to obey or comply with the judgement of this court,” the judge said, adding: “This is an officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who swore on oath to uphold the rule of law, and same law he has now failed or refused to obey.” According to him, the IGP and Force Secretary were given ample opportunity to show because why they were not to be held in contempt, but despite being served severally with the enrolment order, “they both deemed it fit to flout the order of this court and desecrated this hallowed chamber and temple of justice.”

Justice Oyewumi apparently couldn’t help getting personal, saying: “Justice is not only for the affluent, it is for the poor and vulnerable also. I pause to say that I wonder what type of head of an enforcement agency…the Inspector-General of Police is if he finds it so difficult, or so difficult it seems for him, to obey a simple order of court.” He accused the police boss of setting a bad precedent by electing to flout the court’s order despite being advised to comply, saying: “It is in the light of all stated, which are in sync with the records of this court, that I hold the Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali Baba and the Force Secretary AIG Hafeez Inuwa as being in contempt of this court. They are to be arrested and be produced before this court for necessary action.” The court adjourned the case to October 9, 2023. Unfortunately, Baba won’t be the one to continue with the case as he was retired by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu alongside the service chiefs and others on Monday. The ball is now in Egbetokun’s court.

This latest ruling echoed another by the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 29, last year, committing the IGP to three months in prison for presumably defying a valid court order. His committal followed a suit filed by Patrick Okoli, who was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the police. Justice M. O. Olajuwon ordered that the police boss be detained in custody for a period of three months, or until his office obeys an order by the court that Okoli be reinstated made since October 21, 2011. The judge noted that whereas the PSC recommended Okoli’s reinstatement – a decision that the court affirmed – the IGP’s office refused to comply with the order. “If at the end of 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 judge had ruled.

Following the earlier order, Force Public Relations Officer Olumuyiwa Adejobi had said Okoli’s case file predated the tenure of IGP Baba and he needed to be properly apprised of the facts of the case. The IGP also challenged the court’s arrest order and it was eventually rescinded. But now, there’s another order.

It was unhelpful enough for the rule of law that the former IGP was found in contempt of court; it was worse that he was a serial contemnor. Justice Oyewumi was right in noting that it sets a precedent hazardous to society’s health. Reason is: when the police boss flouts court orders, how shall we cope with disrespect for courts by other personnel of the force? If there is any reason why a court order can’t be obeyed, the court remains the best place to ply that reason. It is unhelpful also that the IGP compels the court to make an order almost in futility: because as he is to be arrested, who will effect the arrest? An officer of the law mustn’t be seen to be in flagrant disobedience of the law, otherwise societal order collapses.

The acting IGP must not toe his predecessor’s path on matters of rule of law. Now that he has inherited these cases, he should promptly deal with them as appropriate. This is the irreducible minimum that is expected of him as Nigeria’s chief law enforcement officer.

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