A Federal High Court in Osogbo has ordered the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Police Service Commission (PSC), and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to pay ₦ 100,000 million in damages.
According to reports, the court on Monday fined Egbetokun, the NPF, and the PSC ₦100,000 million for breaking the law in an effort to prevent the Osun State local government poll scheduled for February 22, 2025.
In his ruling in the lawsuit designated FHC/OS/CS/41/2025, Honorable Justice A. A. Demi-Ajayi declared that the sealing of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission’s (OSSIEC) offices and the arrest of commission employees prior to the election were illegal because the police authority did not cite any violations of the law to support their actions.
The judge stated that the evidence in front of the court demonstrated that the election was conducted in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as other enabling laws, therefore the Police had no legal basis for interfering with the process.
The lawsuit, which names the OSSIEC and its Chairman, Barrister Hashim Abioye, as claimants, asked the court to rule that it was illegal for the Inspector-General of Police and Nigerian Police officers to seal the Commission’s head office and offices throughout the state just hours before the state’s local government elections, threaten to arrest the OSSIEC Chairman, and ultimately arrest the ad hoc officers it hired.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs requested that the court decide “whether the plaintiffs, generally, severally, and variously, are not entitled to enjoy their fundamental rights to liberty, right to private life, right to dignity of human person, and right to own movable and immovable property as enshrined under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.”
Additionally, they argued that the Police’s actions were partisan and asked the court to rule that the Commission’s arrest and detention prior to the local government election on February 22, 2025, were illegal and unlawful, “while the threat of further arrest and/or continuing detention of the plaintiffs’ staff by the defendants is illegal, unlawful.”
In addition, the claimants claimed that the court had mandated the local government’s election and that the police’s actions were an insult to the judiciary. They asked the court to punish the IGP and the Police authority with N2 billion in aggravated damages.
The plaintiffs beg the court to approve their request in the interest of justice and ask that it prevent the IGP or any of its agents from continuing to abuse their authority by interfering with the Commission’s legitimate functions.
Nonetheless, the defendant admitted that OSSIEC’s offices had been sealed off and that its employees had been arrested, claiming that the action was a preventative measure to stop a crime from being committed.
The Police stated that their action “was founded on the credible suspicion their engagement in actions deemed to have violated the Electoral laws and other applicable laws as opposed to the averment contained in paragraph 14 of the plaintiffs’ affidavit” in an affidavit that Inspector Ogunmokun Abiodun deposed.
He urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit as frivolous, arguing that the claimants had overstated the situation and that the police had just carried out their responsibility of maintaining peace and order.
He refuted the plaintiffs’ accusations of partisanship against the IGP and the Police authority, pointing out that it was operating in accordance with its statutory and constitutional obligations.
OSSIEC Chairman Hashim Abioye responded to the ruling by praising the judiciary and claiming that justice had been done. He also praised the legal team headed by Maruf Adediran Esq., stating that history already documents the police’s unlawful interference in Osun State’s grassroots democracy and that this book would always be relevant to future generations.
