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Dismissed police
sergeant takes appeal to Yar’adua
From THOMAS ADEJO, Kaduna_____________________________________________________
MR. Godwin Obanga, a
police sergeant who was dismissed but later reinstated by a court
order has petitioned President Umaru Musa Yar’adua over
non-compliance with the order by the police authorities.
In a strongly worded petition, Obanga told President Yar’adua that
he had been denied justice and his human rights abused over the
years.
The petitioner who gave graphic detail of what led to his “unjust
and unwarranted dismissal” from the police in 1990, appealed to the
president for prompt intervention.
According to him, sometime in 1989 he borrowed 1,000 Naira from a
friend to pay his father’s medical bills but could not repay in
time. The friend then reported him to Kawo police station where
Obanga was serving, claiming that Obanga had demanded bribe from
him.
When the matter was taken before his superiors, Obanga explained, he
was dismissed from the police without a thorough investigation.
“This action was challenged in the court of law,” Obanga said,
stressing that “during the trial of the case at the Kaduna High
Court, the police refused to honour all summons served by the
court.”
He said in his petition that the high court nullified his dismissal
on July 28, 1994 and ordered his reinstatement into the force.
However, he said the police high command failed to obey the court
order despite all efforts by his counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Toro, a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who wrote several letters to the
Inspector General of Police on the issue.
“I am appealing to you, Mr. President, to, in the spirit of rule of
law and due process, kindly intervene without delay,” Obanga
pleaded.
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