IG suspends training of reinstated officers

The Inspector-General of Police has ordered the immediate suspension of the ongoing six-month induction course for reinstated senior police officers following a ruling by the National Industrial Court.

The directive, contained in a police wireless message dated September 25, 2026, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Friday, ordered the affected officers to vacate the training premises at the Police Staff College, Jos, with their personal effects.

The message, addressed to the Police Staff College, Jos, and the National Institute of Police Studies in Abuja, and copied to the office of the Inspector-General of Police, stated that the suspension was in compliance with a recent court judgment.

“INGENPOL directs you to temporarily suspend ongoing six-month induction course for reinstated senior officers,” the message partly read.

“All course participants to vacate premises with their personal effects with immediate effect.”

The order followed a ruling delivered by Justice Buhari Sani of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, on September 28, 2026, in suit number NICN/KN/51/2026, filed by the Advocacy for Human Rights and Cultural Values for Development Initiatives against the Inspector-General of Police and five others.

In the ruling, obtained by our correspondent on Friday, the court set aside an ex parte order it had granted on September 22, which restrained the police authorities and the Police Service Commission from implementing the reinstatement of Cadet Assistant Superintendents of Police from Courses 18, 19 and 20.

The court also struck out the motion ex parte dated September 18, describing it as lacking merit and constituting an abuse of court process.

Justice Sani said the earlier order was granted on a “misapprehension of the true state of affairs” and following the applicant’s failure to disclose material facts concerning an existing judgment on the reinstatement of the officers.

The judge explained that the decision being challenged was not merely an administrative action but the subject of a subsisting judgment of the National Industrial Court in suit number NICN/ABJ/28/2025, which had been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

“The presence of a subsisting judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction fundamentally alters the legal landscape,” the judge held.

He added that where a decision being challenged was the execution of a valid and subsisting judgment, the court could not restrain its implementation as though it were an unlawful administrative act.

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“The real urgency contemplated by law was therefore absent,” the judge said, adding that the applicant had failed to establish that the subject matter of the suit was at risk of destruction.

The court further held that the applicant was under an obligation to make full and frank disclosure of all relevant facts when seeking an ex parte order.

“The failure of the applicant to disclose the existence of the judgment in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/28/2025 and its affirmation by the Court of Appeal is a material non-disclosure that strikes at the heart of the ex parte order,” the judge ruled.

The reinstatement of the affected officers followed an earlier judgment concerning the regularisation of their dates of first appointment and the application of Section 18(8) of the Police Act, 2020, which addresses the maximum years of service and retirement age of police personnel.

In a letter dated July 31, 2026, the Force Secretary, Assistant Inspector-General of Police Bode Akinbamilowo, conveyed the Police Service Commission’s decision on the regularisation of the dates of first appointment of Assistant Superintendents of Police and inspectors who entered the Force through the cadet system.

The letter stated that the affected officers had previously been retired following a Police Service Commission decision in January 2025 but had their retirements reversed in compliance with the National Industrial Court’s judgment in suit number NICN/ABJ/28/2025.

The Inspector-General subsequently directed the affected officers to report to the Police Staff College, Jos, for a six-month induction course.

The list of affected officers attached to the July 31, 2026, letter included Assistant Inspector-General of Police Owohunwa Idowu and AIG Benneth Chinedu Igwe, both of Cadet ASP Course 19 of 1996, as well as Deputy Commissioner of Police Simon Asamber Lough of Course 20 of 2000.

The officers were among those previously retired but reinstated following the judgment of the National Industrial Court in suit number NICN/ABJ/28/2025.

According to the annexure, Owohunwa was born on July 20, 1970, and appointed into the Force on August 15, 1996, while Igwe was born on October 7, 1968, and appointed on the same date.

Lough was born on May 14, 1969, and appointed on May 1, 2000. The document listed their retirement dates by age and length of service, respectively, as July 20, 2030, and August 15, 2031, for Owohunwa; October 7, 2028, and August 15, 2031, for Igwe; and May 14, 2029, and May 1, 2035, for Lough.