By Isiaka Mustapha, Editor-in-Chief, People’s Security Monitor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has issued an interim order restraining the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Police Service Commission (PSC) from implementing the reinstatement of hundreds of retired senior police officers pending the determination of a substantive suit before the court. Justice Buhari Sani granted the order following an ex parte application filed by Advocacy for Human Rights and Cultural Values for Development Initiatives. The suit challenges the planned return of officers from Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police Courses 18, 19 and 20, including former Assistant Inspectors General of Police Idowu Owohunwa and Benneth Chinedu Igwe. The applicant argued that the proposed reinstatement was inconsistent with the provisions of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, and the Public Service Rules, 2021, which stipulate retirement after 35 years of service or upon attaining 60 years of age. In granting the interim injunction, the court held that allowing the reinstatement process to proceed could significantly alter the employment status of the affected officers and the structure of the Nigeria Police Force before the substantive issues in dispute are resolved. Justice Sani further ruled that the balance of convenience favoured preserving the existing situation pending the hearing of the matter. The court consequently ordered the IGP, the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission to maintain the status quo and refrain from implementing, enforcing or giving effect to the reinstatement decision until the court determines the interlocutory application. The development comes months after the Court of Appeal affirmed an earlier National Industrial Court judgment that nullified the retirement of 455 senior police officers and ordered their reinstatement with full benefits. The appellate court had dismissed the Police Service Commission’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s decision. The case has been adjourned until September 30, 2026, for the hearing of the interlocutory application. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Isiaka Mustapha, Editor-in-Chief, People’s Security Monitor The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has issued an interim order restraining the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Nigeria Police Force…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pages"],"yoast_head":"\n