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Retired Police Officers Ask Court To Send IGP To Prison

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Some retired officers of the Nigerian police have asked the National Industrial Court (NIC) to commit the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to prison for alleged disobedience to the order of the court which reinstated them back into Force.

The officers, in a statement issued Monday, alleged that they were forcefully retired from the Force despite the court judgment that ordered the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission (PSC) not to retire them when some of them have not reached the 60 years, while some were yet to spend 35 years in the police force.

The statement issued by one of the aggrieved officers, Mr. Emmanuel Idris, on behalf of other concerned officers, alleged that the IG was yet to obey the judgment to reinstate them into the Force.

Idris claimed that the court delivered the judgment in April 2022 and the defendants were yet to implement the judgment, which was delivered by Justice Oyewumi Oyebiola of the NICN.

According to the statement, “We are members and graduates of Course 33, 34, and 35 of the Police Academy; we were forcefully retired from the force when we were yet to attain the age of 60 years, and some were retired when they were yet to spend 35 years in the police force. We approached the National Industrial Court in Abuja to challenge the action of the Force against us and the court presided over by Hon. Justice Oyewumi Oyebiola gave an order that we should be reinstated, but to our surprise, the police authorities have not obeyed the court judgment till today.

“It could be noted that the police took the action against us because of the issue on our date of first appointment. and the issue has been cleared by the court and there was no appeal on the court judgment. Incidentally, the police authorities had implemented the earlier judgments of the same court involved other police officers, but for inexplicable reasons, the authorities have refused bluntly to obey the judgment involving courses 33, 34, and 35.”

Also, the aggrieved police officers, through their counsel, Mr. Godwin Okoro, asked the IG, the PSC, and Force Secretary to show cause why they should not be committed to prison for their refusal to obey the court order that reinstated the officers who were forcefully retired from the service when they have not spent 35 years in service or attained 60 years of age.

The Industrial Court presided by Justice Oyebiola Oyewumi had in suit No: NICN/ABJ/281/2021 filed by Messrs Egong Egwu Egong, Omeh Felix Okechukwu, Paul Obot Umoh, and Galadima Bello urged the IG, the PSC and the Force Secretary of the Police to reinstate the officers who were forcefully retired from office.

The police officers had through their counsel approached the National Industrial Court seeking an order to nullify their retirement from the service by the Nigeria Police Force and the PSC.

The court consequently restrained the defendants — the IG, the PSC, and the Force Secretary of the Nigeria Police — from retiring the officers compulsorily.

However, since April 19, 2022, when the judgment was delivered, the IG and other defendants were yet to obey the court order reinstating the officers of the courses who joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1996, 1999, and 2000.

In form 87 filed by the retired police officers, they asked the IG and other defendants to appear in person to show cause why an order for their committal should not be made for the disobedience to the order reinstating officers of courses 33, 34, and 35 who graduated from the police academy between 1996 and 2000.

In a copy of the letter addressed to IG Baba, signed by the court registrar, Mrs. Rufai Zainab Ahmed, and dated January 23, 2023, they warned the IG and other defendants against disobeying the court judgment or face the consequences which is imprisonment.

The notice read: “Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in the certificate of the judgment of the court dated April 19, 2022, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

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Tanzania Announces Outbreak Of Deadly Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), Same Virus Family As Ebola

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Tanzania has announced its first outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease (MVD), after five fatalities and three further cases were reported at a hospital in the country’s north-west Kagera region.

Through contact tracing, approximately 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The government has deployed an emergency response team to the area and neighbouring countries have stepped up surveillance. No cases have yet been reported outside Kagera.

“The efforts by Tanzania’s health authorities to establish the cause of the disease is a clear indication of the determination to effectively respond to the outbreak,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa. “We are working with the government to rapidly scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus and end the outbreak as soon as possible.”

Patients displaying symptoms of the disease were first detected last week in two Kagera villages, according to a health memorandum on Tuesday by the Tanzanian health minister Ummy Mwalimu.

MVD was first discovered in 1967 in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. It is from the same “virus family” as Ebola and causes a severe hemorrhagic fever, while fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88%. There have been several outbreaks since its discovery, with the worst being Angola in 2004-2005, where there were 252 cases and 227 deaths.

The virus is initially transmitted to people from fruit bats, and then from person to person through body fluids or contaminated objects. Family members and health workers are particularly vulnerable to infection.

Symptoms of the disease can range from fever, nausea and rash at the onset, to jaundice and severe weight loss as the disease progresses. It has an incubation period of up to 21 days.

There are no vaccines or treatments for the virus, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alleviating symptoms by rehydration or managing the patient’s blood and oxygen levels, can increase the chances of survival.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is also supporting efforts to contain the outbreak. Tanzania is battling the virus for the first time, just a month after Equatorial Guinea confirmed its first case.

“These emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are a sign that the health security of the continent needs to be strengthened to cope with the disease threats,” said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the director of Africa CDC. “We urge members of the public to continue sharing information in a timely manner with the authorities to enable a most effective response.”

Tanzania’s health ministry has called on citizens to take general precaution and follow health directives until the situation is brought under control.

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Tinubu Jets Out To France In Preparation For Inauguration As Nigeria’s 16th President

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Indications that countdown to the swearing-in of 16th president of Nigeria and preparation for the ceremony is in full gear, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has left Nigeria for France to start engaging needed hands and foreign investors that would make tasks ahead easier for him as he aims to hit the ground running on good notes immediately after May 29.

It was gathered that Tinubu’s trip to France would enable him to share quality time with his team in studying how his government would be able to address issues of insecurity, revamp the economy, engage younger people, and also restore unity in the country.

The Guild learnt that the president-elect has lists of engagements that would preoccupy his short stay in Paris while on other hand, his also expected to be fully involved in preparation for his inauguration back home in Nigeria.

Whereas, findings by The Guild indicated that Lagos State former governor’s trip to France may not yet be disclosed to public and large number of his associates who may have been seeking to see Tinubu for political gains after governorship election.

Speaking to a female aide that accompanied Tinubu on the trip, she told The Guild that campaign was over and that the president-elect needed quality time with his team to study Nigeria’s challenges and know how they could be tackled decisively.

They indicated that the task ahead of Tinubu is huge and needed special attention in dealing with the problems on ground and that the concentration cannot be achieved if the president-elect remains in Nigeria till inauguration day.

Other sources on Wednesday explained that Tinubu’s team has lists of engagements for the president-elect to go through on daily bases and throughout the period of time he would be staying in France, including meeting with experts and both local and foreign investors.

As for the 2023 electoral crisis, another source stated that Tinubu had concluded plans to meet political leaders and their supporters, especially those that were not satisfied with the 2023 presidential poll outcome, to address all issues on the ground and to be able to forge ahead and bring everyone irrespective of their tribe and faith together.

While the President-elect was considering plans to unite all aggrieved candidates, they individually approached the Presidential tribunal to demand that the presidential election be either canceled or order a rerun between him and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The candidates, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, also suggested to the tribunal that they should be declared winner of the February 25 poll, arguing that the president-elect as not the choice of the people.

However, Tinubu has appealed to Atiku, Obi, and other aggrieved candidates to accept the outcomes of the poll and join him to build a Nigeria that will be prosperous for everyone irrespective o their status in the country.

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BREAKING: Labour Party’s Alex Otti Wins Gubernatorial Election In Abia State

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Labour Party Candidate, Alex Otti has won Gubernatorial Election in Abia State.

It was gathered that Alex Otti has claimed that Labour Party won by landslide but PDP is trying to manipulate Abia Governorship election results.

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Abia state, Alex Otti, has raised an alarm alleging manipulations of original polling booth results by the ruling People’s Democratic Party during the collation of results at some local government councils across Abia state.

Speaking to Channels Television at his country home in Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area of the state, he called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, to bring the leadership of the electoral body in Abia state to order so they do not subvert the will of the people.

“Virtually all the results that have been uploaded and released, Labour Party won by a landslide.,” Otti insisted.

“Unfortunately, the PDP government has refused to allow some of the results to stand, and they are doing this with the active connivance of some compromised INEC staff and security agencies.”

“The local governments involved are Obingwa where the outgoing governor comes from, Osisioma, Aba North and Aba South where we won overwhelmingly. Obingwa is a very interesting case because, in the majority of the wards in active connivance with INEC, the BVAS was not used.”

Otti further alleged the PDP’s scheme was to flood the collation centre with counterfeit results.

“So they are making efforts to push fake results to the collation centre in Obingwa local government.”

He also called on the Inspector General of Police to intervene as quickly as possible to prevent any breakdown of law and order in the state if the will of the people is subverted.

“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government and particularly the INEC Chairman to ensure that the right thing is done in Abia State. INEC had indicated clearly that the BVAS will be used for voting in this election and BVAS was used,” he said.

“I expect that any result that is not coming out from BVAS accreditation will not be accepted. So, I like the INEC Chairman to prevail on the REC and all other officials of INEC to give peace a chance and do the right thing.”

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