Contempt: Court vacates order sentencing I-G to 3-month imprisonment

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, set aside its order committing the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police, Usman Baba to three-month imprisonment for contempt.

Justice Bolaji Olajuwon, in a ruling, said that there was evidence before the court that the I-G had substantially complied with the court’s earlier order directing the reinstatement of Patrick Okoli, who was compulsorily retired as a police officer.

Justice Olajuwon, therefore, agreed with the submission of counsel to the I-G, Simon Lough, SAN, praying the court to void the Nov 29 committal order.

The judge consequently declared that in view of the development, the application by Mr Baba “is worthy of sympathetic consideration.”

“In view of the substantial compliance with the order of the court and the assurance of ensuring full compliance, the order committing the applicant, Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, is hereby set aside,” she ruled.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Olajuwon had, on Nov 29, convicted Baba and sentenced him to a three-month jail term for failing to obey the Oct. 21, 2011 judgment of a sister court presided over by Justice Donatus Okorowo, reinstating Okoli.

Okoli was compulsory retired in 1992 while serving in the Bauchi State Command as a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) by the Police Council (now Police Service Commission (PSC), which claimed to have acted under Decree 17 of 1984, a decision the court voided in the October 2011 judgment.