Five former officers of the Nigeria Police Force dismissed in 2007 have renewed calls for their reinstatement and the payment of accumulated salaries and allowances covering over 16 years.
The aggrieved ex-personnel Sunday Okon, Anthony Ebong, Joseph Ede, Victor Ibe and Uduak Sampson also sought the intervention of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Aniekan Bassey, and other federal legislators representing Akwa Ibom State.
The former officers, who were enlisted in 2003 on the strength of their trade skills, said they were disengaged four years later over claims that they lacked formal education, despite completing required training and being certified for duty.
Addressing journalists in Uyo on Wednesday, their spokesperson, Victor Ibe, said repeated efforts to secure administrative redress proved abortive, prompting them to seek legal action.
He explained that the group instituted a suit against the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission at the National Industrial Court, which in 2019 ruled in their favour.
According to him, the court voided their dismissal and directed their reinstatement to the ranks they would have attained, alongside payment of all outstanding entitlements from January 2007.
A copy of the judgment indicated that the presiding judge, M. A. Namtari, held that the officers’ disengagement was unlawful due to failure to follow due process and established service rules.
The court further ordered that compliance be effected within 90 days.
Ibe, however, decried that several years after the ruling, the judgment had not been implemented, despite multiple petitions to successive Inspectors-General of Police and the commission.
He alleged that while some dismissed officers with influential backing had been reinstated, others without such support were yet to benefit.
He added that the prolonged delay had caused severe hardship, noting that some of the affected officers had died in the course of pursuing justice.
Maintaining that they were duly qualified and recruited as specialists, Ibe appealed to Akpabio and other lawmakers, including Clement Jimbo and Mark Esset, to compel the relevant authorities to obey the court’s directive, stressing that the judgment remains valid as it was not appealed.Nigeria Police Force dismissed in 2007 have renewed calls for their reinstatement and the payment of accumulated salaries and allowances covering over 16 years.
The aggrieved ex-personnel Sunday Okon, Anthony Ebong, Joseph Ede, Victor Ibe and Uduak Sampson also sought the intervention of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Aniekan Bassey, and other federal legislators representing Akwa Ibom State.
The former officers, who were enlisted in 2003 on the strength of their trade skills, said they were disengaged four years later over claims that they lacked formal education, despite completing required training and being certified for duty.
Addressing journalists in Uyo on Wednesday, their spokesperson, Victor Ibe, said repeated efforts to secure administrative redress proved abortive, prompting them to seek legal action.
He explained that the group instituted a suit against the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission at the National Industrial Court, which in 2019 ruled in their favour.
According to him, the court voided their dismissal and directed their reinstatement to the ranks they would have attained, alongside payment of all outstanding entitlements from January 2007.
A copy of the judgment indicated that the presiding judge, M. A. Namtari, held that the officers’ disengagement was unlawful due to failure to follow due process and established service rules.
The court further ordered that compliance be effected within 90 days.
Ibe, however, decried that several years after the ruling, the judgment had not been implemented, despite multiple petitions to successive Inspectors-General of Police and the commission.
He alleged that while some dismissed officers with influential backing had been reinstated, others without such support were yet to benefit.
He added that the prolonged delay had caused severe hardship, noting that some of the affected officers had died in the course of pursuing justice.
Maintaining that they were duly qualified and recruited as specialists, Ibe appealed to Akpabio and other lawmakers, including Clement Jimbo and Mark Esset, to compel the relevant authorities to obey the court’s directive, stressing that the judgment remains valid as it was not appealed.
