National Commandant of Peace Corps, Ambassador Dickson Akoh, has accused the Nigeria Police of disrespecting the country's judiciary by refusing to obey its ruling.
Akoh stated that disobedience to valid court orders by the Nigeria Police was an affront that should not be allowed to stand.
This comes after the police refused to vacate the corporate headquarters of Peace Corps despite several court orders. Akoh added that the siege laid at the office of the organisation in Abuja since February 2017, was not only on Peace Corps alone but on the judiciary too.
“The rule of law as the bastion of democracy must not be ridiculed by anybody or organisation with impunity as doing so portends great danger for the nation,” Akoh stated.
He therefore urged the police to have a rethink on their disobedience to court order adding that the police authority should learn to respect the law, since police itself is a creation of law.
The Peace Corps boss was reacting on the judgment delivered by Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which declared as illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional, the clampdown on the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) effected in 2013 by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC.
In the ruling, the court held that the NSCDC infringed on the fundamental rights of members of Peace Corps by unlawfully clamping down on them and seizing of their uniforms in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2013.
“I thank the judiciary for standing tall in the face of intimidation; it is a thing of joy that the judiciary has remained resolute, focused and unshaken in the dispensation of justice.”
The court also barred civil defence from interfering in the lawful activities of the Peace Corps in the 36 states of the Federation and Abuja.
More so, the court stopped the NSCDC from attempting to seize uniforms of officers and men of the Peace Corps.
Justice Mohammed held that Peace Corps as a lawfully registered organization has the right to carry out its programmes in the country within the ambit of the law.
The judge declared as unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional the clampdown on Peace Corps in the states of the federation by officers of the civil defense.
Justice Mohammed held that the clampdown constituted abuse of power and breach of the fundamental rights of the Peace Corps officers and men as enshrined under section 34 of the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Mohammed frowned at the hostile attitude of the civil defense against the Peace Corps, also prohibited the NSCDC, its Commandant General, officers, their agents and privies from obstructing the Peace Corps officers and men lawfully posted to schools across the country for the purpose of providing security for the schools.
The court prohibited civil defence, its agents, privies under any guise from taken any action that will infringe on the fundamental rights of the officers and men of the Peace Corps in the country.
Justice Mohammed said the action of Civil Defence was “barbaric, uncivilised and that the civil defence acted ultra vires.”
He therefore granted an order of perpetual injunction against the civil defence from threatening, harassing, molesting, intimidating and disrupting the activities of the Peace Corps officers and men in their lawful official duties.
The Incorporated Trustees of the Peace Corps of Nigeria had dragged three respondents namely, the NSCDC, its Commandant General and Aminu Abdullahi Kesoro before the court to challenge the legality of the clampdown on the Peace Corps offices in the 36 States and Abuja and the seizure of their uniforms and other properties.
The plaintiff had prayed the court to declare as illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional the interference of the civil defense with activities of Peace Corps officers and men posted to secondary schools and colleges who have partnership with the PCN.
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