Court Overrules IGP Egbetokun, Orders Reinstatement Of Owohunwa, Simon Lough, 194 Others

The National Industrial Court, Abuja Division, has ordered the immediate reinstatement of 196 officers from Cadet ASP Force Courses 18, 19, and 20, who had been sacked by police authorities.

The ruling followed Suit No. NICN/ABJ/28/2025, ACP Chinedu Ambrose Emengaha & 7 Ors vs. Police Service Commission & Ors, in which the officers challenged their forced retirement from the Police Force despite neither completing 35 years of service nor reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60.

Notable officers included in the reinstatement order are AIG Idowu Owohunwa, CP Benneth Igweh, and DCP Simon Lough SAN, according to CITY LAWYER.

Recall that Police Service Commission had, in a March 4, 2025, memorandum, directed the immediate retirement of certain senior officers over an age falsification scandal, which the officers have consistently denied.

The officers affected by the directive included AIG Idowu Owohunwa, CP Benneth Igweh (10/2/2025), CP Aina Emmanuel (1/5/2023), ACP Salama Wakili Abdul (10/2/2025), ACP Simon Lough SAN (26/2/2025), ACP Dakon Philip Sarpiya (1/8/2022) and AVP Grace Ejiofor (12/12/2023).

According to the memorandum, the decision to retire these officers was made at an extraordinary meeting of the Police Service Commission held on February 20, 2025.

The claimants subsequently challenged the decision at the National Industrial Court.

In their lawsuit challenging forced retirement, the officers sought declarations confirming that their original dates of appointment could not be altered or reviewed by the Police Service Commission.

They also argued that Cadet ASP entrants of Courses 18, 19, and 20 who had neither completed 35 years of service nor reached the age of 60 were not subject to the Commission’s decision to retire officers, which applied only to those meeting the service or age criteria.

The officers further maintained that their appointments as Cadet Officers were fresh appointments and not a continuation or merger of prior service.

They also sought a “declaration that the defendants cannot by any decision set aside the valid and subsisting judgments of the National Industrial Court, Abuja delivered by Hon. Justice O. O. Oyewunmi in Suit Nos. NICN/ABJ./345/2019 – ACP Chinedu Ambrose Emengaha & Ors vs Police Service Commission & 2 Ors, and NICN/ABJ./353/2019 CSP Sunday Okuguni & Ors Vs Police Service Commission & 2 Ors, already implemented by the defendants since 29th July, 2021;

“AN ORDER setting aside the 1st defendant’s directive to the 2nd and 3rd defendants contained in the press release of 31st January, 2025, as it concerns courses 18, 19 & 20 (force entrants);

“AN ORDER of perpetual injunction, restraining the Defendants jointly and severally from unlawfully and illegally reviewing the issue of dates of appointment of Cadet ASPs of Force Entrants – Courses 18, 19 & 20 already settled by the Judgments of the National Industrial Court, and

“AN ORDER of perpetual injunction, restraining the Defendants jointly and severally from unlawfully and illegally retiring any member of Cadet ASPs of Force Entrants – Courses 18, 19 & 20 who has not attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.”

On Tuesday, Justice Rakiya Haastrup of the National Industrial Court, Abuja Division, delivered judgment in favor of the claimants, granting all the reliefs they sought.

The court ruled that the defendants had no authority to overturn valid judgments issued by a competent court and subsequently set aside the Police Service Commission’s decision of January 31, 2025, which had forcibly retired the affected officers.

The police authorities have not yet responded to the ruling.

Meanwhile, in another case, the arraignment of five of the retired senior police officers on allegations of age falsification was stalled for the third consecutive time last Thursday, as the defendants were absent from court.

The case, which came up before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, could not proceed because the police were unable to effect personal service of the charges on the accused persons.

The defendants: AIG Idowu Owohunwa (Rtd), Commissioners of Police (CPs) Benneth Igweh (Rtd) and Ukachi Peter Opara (Rtd), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Obo Ukam Obo (Rtd), and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Simon A. Lough (Rtd), are facing a 14-count charge filed against them by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

In the charge marked CR/353/2025, the five retired officers are accused of conspiracy, falsification of age, forgery, fraudulent declarations, and dishonest deposition of false claims in court proceedings.

One of the counts alleges that the officers, who joined the police in 1999, “conspired to falsify their ages in order to remain in service beyond the mandatory retirement age,” contrary to Section 97(1)(2) of the Penal Code.

They are also accused of altering official documents “with the intention of illegally prolonging their service, thereby benefiting from office privileges contrary to the Public Service Rules of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” an act prosecutors say amounts to cheating under Section 324 of the Penal Code.

The charges further cite offences under Sections 158(1), 178, and 366 of the Penal Code Law.

At the last sitting, Justice Halilu had ordered the police to produce the defendants in court for their arraignment, following the prosecution’s complaint about their persistent absence.

However, last Thursday, prosecution counsel ACP Rimamsomte Ezekiel informed the court that all efforts to serve the defendants had been unsuccessful.

According to him, investigators visited their last known residential addresses but discovered they had relocated.

He added that a soft copy of the charges was also sent to their WhatsApp accounts, yet they still failed to appear.

Ezekiel, therefore, urged the court to issue a bench warrant under Section 266(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

The defence counsel Terkaa Aondo (SAN) opposed the application, insisting that personal service was mandatory in criminal trials.

“The police have the apparatus to bring the defendants to court. If they could arrest Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya and Omoyele Sowore in Nigeria, why can they not arrest these defendants and bring them before the court?” Aondo asked.

In his ruling, Justice Halilu upheld the defence’s argument, stressing that criminal charges cannot proceed without personal service.