Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has moved to set aside the three-month imprisonment order issued by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, for alleged contempt.

In a motion filed before the Federal High Court (FCT) yesterday, Thursday, December 1, 2022, the IGP gave reasons why the orders should be set aside.

He noted that he had not been appointed into office when the alleged contempt, namely, failure to reinstate the plaintiff, Patrick C. Okoli, as ordered by the court was committed.

He also argued that the contempt proceedings were served via substituted means in November 2018 and January, 2019 respectively, on the then IGP, and not on him as the incumbent IGP.

IGP Alkali further noted that even before his assumption of office, “official steps had been taken by his predecessors toward complying with the reinstatement of Patrick C. Okoli, the plaintiff, as ordered by the court.”

He cited an official letter addressed to the Police Service Commission (PSC) on the approval of the then IGP, as far back as 2015, and before the court order of November 29, 2022, “requesting the Commission to issue a reinstatement letter to the plaintiff and also effect his promotion in line with the order of the Court and in the exercise of their statutory authority in that regard. Hence, the grounds for the contempt proceedings ought not to have existed, ab initio.”

The IGP reassured Nigerians of his “unalloyed commitment and steadfastness in defending the rule of law and respecting judicial authorities hence, will not wittingly or unwittingly disobey any order validly granted by courts of competent jurisdiction.”