Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to release the details of the 80,115 ghost officers said to have been discovered in the police formations and commands in 2018.
Delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information request suit filed by a civil society organisation, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), requesting
from the IG information on the details of the list of 80,115 ghost officers, Justice Binta Nyako, ordered the IG to release the information which the police authorities had refused to release.
In the judgment which was delivered on October 22, 2019, Justice Nyako ordered the police helmsman to immediately release to the group, information, including the names and contact addresses of the “ghost officers” and their ranks.
She also ordered the IG to release the bank account numbers, bank verification numbers, monthly salaries and emoluments and the total money paid to each one of them.
The court also ordered the IG to pay to CSJ, the sum of N500,000 as damages for earlier denying the group access to the information.
The Lead Director of CSJ, Mr. Eze Onyekpere, recalled in a statement yesterday that his organisation had sent a Freedom of Information request to the IG on April 3, 2018, requesting information on the details of the list of 80,115 ghost officers.
He noted that the then Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had disclosed the information about the existence of the ghost workers in her presentation on the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System(IPPIS) to the Federal Executive Council on March 21, 2018.
The IG was said to have failed to release the information and give reasons for its inability to grant the request to CSJ.
The development forced the organisation to, through its lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Nnajiaka, file the suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/493/2018, praying for an order compelling the IG to release the information to it.
The IG refused to file any defence in the suit.
In her judgment delivered on October 22, 2019, the judge held among others, that, “denying the applicant access to the details of the list of 80,115 ghost officers recently discovered in the police formations and command through the implementation of the IPPIS without explanation constitutes an infringement of the applicant’s right guaranteed and protected by Section 1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.”
The judge also made an order of mandamus compelling the IG to “grant access to the list of 80,115 ghost officers recently discovered in the police formations and command through the implementation of the IPPIS”.
It also ordered the respondent to pay to the applicant the sum of N500,000 as damages for denying the applicant access to information.
