consequences of treating courts with levity.
Justice Gabriel
Kolawale issued the directive, following the failure of the police to appear
before him in a case of enforcement of fundamental human rights instituted
against the police and four others by the Incorporated Trustees of the Peace
Corps of Nigeria.
The judge
stated that the police, as an institution established by law, must subject
itself to obedience of law in the interest of the rule of law.
At the resumed
hearing of the suit yesterday, the inspector general of police and the Nigeria
Police, who are the major defendants in the court action, were not in court
without any cogent reason.
The Attorney
General of the Federation, the National Security Adviser, the Department of
State Services and its Director-General, who are also defendants in the suit,
were represented by Mr. Terhemba Agber.
Counsel to the
Peace Corps and its National Commandant, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), had urged
Justice Kolawale for an order, restraining the police from further taking steps
against the plaintiffs in the pending court action.
Agabi, a
former attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, had
specifically pleaded with the judge to order the police to vacate the corporate
headquarters of the Peace Corps in Abuja, sealed off since February 28 and to
also order the release of the vehicles and other property carted away by the
police when the office was invaded.
But counsel to
the attorney general, Agber and three others urged the court to allow hearing
of the parties in the matter before giving any order.
In his ruling,
Justice Kolawale expressed displeasure over the absence of the police in court
without justifiable reason.
He said the police, who were the antagonist in
the case, ought to have realised that a case for the enforcement of fundamental
human rights to freedom of liberty ought to be treated with deserved urgency.
He said: “It
is an affront to the court for a party in a pending court action to take any
further step in such a manner that may affect the foundation of the case.”
The judge
adjourned hearing in the matter until May 15.
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