Vacate Peace Corps office within 48 hours - House of Representatives tell police
- Members of the House of Representatives has ordered Peace Corps of Nigeria to take possession of its office
- It also gave the police 48 hours to vacate the office, saying it cannot watch the police "mess up" the office of the attorney general of the federation
- The lawmakers also ordered that the inspector general of police and the attorney general of the federation appear before it within the next seven days
The House of Representatives on Tuesday, February 13, gave the Nigeria Police 48 hours to vacate office of Peace Corps of Nigeria.
The lawmakers said they would not watch the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, "mess up" the office of the attorney general of the federation.
The House also ordered Peace Corps to take possession of its office at number 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, off Alex Ekwueme way, opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, Abuja which has been under siege by the police immediately.
The lawmakers gave the order during the investigative hearing involving the IGP, the AGF, the minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, minister of youths and sports development, Solomon Lalong; the national commandant of Peace Corps of Nigeria, Dickson Akoh and members of the civil society organizations.
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At the hearing, Akoh told the House committee on public petitions that the PCN had secured 12 court judgments against the police from various courts of competent jurisdictions,
He said the most recent judgement by Justice Gabriel Kolawole on November 9, 2017 and Justice John Tsoho on January 15, 2018, had ordered the police to vacate the office of the Peace Corps.
He also told the lawmakers that the office of the AGF had written five different letters to the IGP, advising that outstanding judgement in favour of the Peace Corps be obeyed.
Akoh said: "But the IGP always pays deaf ears to the advice."
Confirming this, barrister A.O. Zibiri who represented the AGF said the AGF wrote to the IGP to obey court orders.
Meanwhile, the Peace Corps boos, also tendered video evidence showing Idris making a vow to frustrate every effort by the corps to ensure the bill establishing it did not receive executive assent.
In the IGP's defence, the assistant commissioner of police in charge of legal affairs, Henry Njoku, said the Force had instituted an appeal against the recent judgement of Justice Kolawole.
Njoku advised the lawmakers to disregard the petition by the civil society organisation against the Force.
He also told the committe that his office needed time to study the documents, especially the annexes exhibited by the petitioners, saying he was only making "conditional appearance" on behalf of the Force.
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In his response, chairman of the committee on public petitions, Nkem Abonta, said it was wrong for the police to continue laying siege to the corporate headquarters of the Peace Corps, after courts of competent jurisdictions had ordered that they vacate the premises.
"From the happenings in the country, the Police has to sit up. The AGF seems to have records of all court proceedings, especially, anyone that concerns the government. The Police should not appeal against any judgement without consulting the AGF or seek the leave of the court to do so, because, it is tax payers money they would use.
"Except you are telling us that the Police is superior to court, if there is no stay of execution, the building should be unsealed. We would not sit down, fold our hands and allow the IGP to mess up the office of the AGF," Abonta said.
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The House also ordered that the IGP and the AGF be compelled to appear before it within seven days.
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Senate had also mandated its committee on police affairs to invite the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris.
IGP Idris is expected appear before the Senate to suggest ways and means Nigeria could actualise community policing.
Senators were of the view that implementing community policing would help check crime in communities across the country.
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Source: Legit.ng
