Alex Enumah in Abuja
A former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), has petitioned the current occupant of the office, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), over police’s continued disobedience to lawful orders of court.
In a seven-page petition dated January 16, 2020, the former AGF expressed disgust over the attitude of the Nigeria Police Force towards court judgments and asked Malami to compel the police to obey them.
The petition came on the heels of fresh clampdown on members of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) and the refusal of police to unseal the corporate headquarters of the corps in Abuja in spite of court orders against the action of the police.
The ex-AGF lamented that the police had unjustly and unlawfully been having running battles with the corps over the years leading to 15 litigations and all won by the youth organisation with over N50 million damages awarded by courts against the police.
He said despite subsisting judgments and orders of courts, the police, through the Ondo State Commissioner, Mr. Undie Adie, on January 13, 2020, arrested the Ondo State Commandant of the Corps, Mr. Alawoki Oluwatobi, while at the CP’s office on a scheduled courtesy visit alongside other affiliate bodies of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), the apex youth body in the country.
Agabi said Oluwatobi had visited the commissioner of police to explore ways of how youth leaders could complement the efforts of the police in curtailing crime in the state.
He said: “Immediately the NYCN leader introduced our client’s commandant in Ondo State, Alawoki Oluwatobi, as a member of the delegation, the Commissioner of Police instantly reacted by declaring that his organisation is illegal and that there is an existing circular to that effect from the Force Headquarters.
“He subsequently ordered the immediate detention of the commandant.”
Agabi disclosed that the police also invaded the PCN office in Akure “and in the process brutalised, molested and arrested some members” of the corps, adding that valued items, including the PCN’s flag were carted away and the office sealed off.
