By Vivian Okejeme Abuja
The acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has been urged to compel the Inspector General of Police,IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to unseal the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) headquaters in Abuja.
Osibanjo, was officially written to by an Abuja-based human rights activist, Barrister Ahmed Ajibola Jimoh, on behalf of the building located at No. 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Abuja, which has been unlawfully under lock and key since February 28, 2017.
In the letter, the legal practitioner, specifically, wants the Presidency to direct police authorities to respect the rule of law and obey court orders directing them to vacate the office.
According to the letter dated August 13, 2018, the lawyer informed Acting President Osinbajo of the subsisting two judgements of the Federal High Court, Abuja which ordered police to unseal the office, but was not obeyed till date.
The letter, entitled: “Appeal to Mr. President to compel Police to respect rule of law on Peace Corps of Nigeria”, informed the Presidency that the Corps as a uniform youth organization engaging in youth development, nation building, patriotism and neighborhood watch, has been made to suffer untold hardships by the action of Police in sealing up the office unlawfully.
The activist recalled that Justices Gabriel Kolawole and John Tsoho, have at different times, in their judgements issued orders to the Police directing them to unseal the office in the interest of justice and fair play.
The letter stated that Police rather than obeying the court orders chose to remain adamant by blocking the entrance to the office with a heavy truck and stationed several of its men to prevent the officers and men of the Corps from accessing the office as directed by court.
He also informed the Presidency that the flagrant disobedience to court orders and utter disregard to the rule of law by the Police, run counter to the tenets of democracy, warning that Police actions are capable of causing anarchy in the country.
He therefore, warned that the use of naked powers and oppression against the youth in the Peace Corps of Nigeria, who are being prepared for a bright future, were capable of spelling doom for the nation and therefore urged the Presidency to passionately wade into the matter and order Police to vacate the office.
Jimoh stated that the attitude of Police in the matter of Peace Corps was worrisome because the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, being the Chief Legal Officer, had twice written the Inspector General of Police on the need to obey court order in the matter of Corps, but that the two letters were treated with levity by the Police and continued their deliberate and willful disobedience to valid court orders.
