CSOs Dare IG, Unseal Peace Corps Hqts to Enforce Court Judgment

By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Following the‎ refusal of the Inspector General of Police (IG) Ibrahim Idris to unseal the headquarters of Peace Corps as directed by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations for Justice and Equity Thursday forced open the headquarters of the corps.

The headquarters of the corps had been illegally sealed off by the IG since February 28, 2017.

However, delivering judgment in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/176/2017 on November 9, 2017, Justice Kolawole‎ had ruled that the headquarters be unsealed forthwith and also awarded a sum of N12.5 million for general damages in favour of the applicant and against IG Idris.

The coordinator of the group, Mr. Edward Omaga, said: “The judgment did not give Idris any seven days whatsoever within which to unseal the office‎. We are aggrieved that ‎the judgment was served by the bailiffs of court on the Nigeria Police Force since November 10, 2017 and again served on all parties by the Chambers of Kanu Agabi and Co, SAN‎ on November 13, 2017 for compliance, only for the CP Legal, Force Headquarters named Mr. David Igbodo to come up with a lame excuse the NPF cannot unseal the office now because their teams of lawyers are still studying the judgment.

“This again is highly contradictory, since the same police claimed they never sealed the Peace Corps headquarters.”

Omaga stressed that it was obvious the IG and his allies are either confused about the interpretation of the plain wordings of the judgment or the IG lacks respect for the judiciary and the rule of law‎.

Details later…