A
Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday ordered the service of court
papers on the Police Service Commission in Abuja in a suit seeking
declaration that an Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Joseph
Mbu, is unfit to remain a police officer of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
The ex parte application for leave of court to
serve the PSC outside of jurisdiction was brought before Justice Ibrahim
Buba by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).
Falana had
on Thursday appeared in court and announced appearance as counsel
representing the plaintiff, a lawyer, Mr. Tope Alabi, who filed the
case.
Alabi is urging the court to compel the
Inspector General of Police; the Police Service Commission and the
Attorney General of the Federation to immediately declare Mbu’s office
with the Force vacant over alleged abuse of power.
The
plaintiff’s legal action against the AIG stemmed from a recent order
reportedly given by Mbu to the police officers of the Ogun State Police
Command to kill 20 civilians for any police officer killed during the
general elections.
Alabi is contending that Mbu, having sworn to
uphold the rule of law and abide by the Constitution, acted in
contravention of Section 308 (1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, when he
gave such an order to his men.
According to the lawyer, such an
utterance, which was widely reported in the national dailies was
“capable of inciting mass killings, violence and anarchy,” in the
country.
At the hearing of the case on Thursday, Falana, after
announcing appearance, brought the ex parte application to the notice of
the court.
He said, “My Lord, we have a motion for leave to serve the third respondent outside jurisdiction.”
The plaintiff also filed three other applications which have not been heard.
They
are a motion for interim injunction restraining Mbu from giving any
orders to officers under him during the general elections pending the
hearing of the plaintiff’s motion for interlocutory injunction.
The
motion for interlocutory injunction is seeking to restrain Mbu from
giving any orders pending the hearing of the substantive suit.
The
plaintiff also has a pending application seeking to abridge the time
within which the suit will be heard and determined in view of its
urgency.
Credit: Ramon Oladimeji/Punch
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