The Federal High Court in Abuja has delivered a scathing verdict against the Nigeria Police Force, declaring the arrest and detention of a retired Chief Superintendent of Police and legal practitioner, Joseph Offor, as illegal, unconstitutional, and a gross violation of his fundamental rights.
In a judgment delivered by Justice H.J. Yilwa, the court faulted the police for holding Offor in detention for seven days without proper justification, awarding him N100,000 in damages for the ordeal.
Offor, who previously worked in the legal/prosecution department at Force Headquarters, had been arrested on September 26, 2023, over allegations of professional misconduct, insubordination, and unauthorized disclosure of official secrets.
He was reportedly dragged in public from the office of the Inspector General of Police on the seventh floor of the Force Headquarters to another officer’s office before being locked up in a cell in Asokoro, Abuja.
In his lawsuit against the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, and other senior police officers, Offor detailed the inhumane conditions he endured, alleging that he was held without access to food, water, medication, or his phone.
He also claimed that he was stripped to his underwear and forced to sleep on the bare floor of an overcrowded, mosquito-infested cell.
Justice Yilwa, in his ruling, stated that the police had no criminal allegations against Offor that warranted his detention.
The court noted that Offor was arrested and locked up *before* he was even issued a query regarding the allegations—an act the judge described as a clear abuse of power.
“In as much as this court will not and cannot interfere with the statutory duties of the police, I am of the considered view that detaining the applicant for professional misconduct, before even serving him a query, does not fall within their statutory duties as provided in Section 4 of the Police Act 2022,” the judge ruled.
The court further dismissed the police’s argument that Offor had compromised official secrets, ruling that professional misconduct, even if proven, should have been handled administratively rather than through arbitrary detention.
Although Offor had sought N500 million in damages and a public apology in a national newspaper, the court awarded him N100,000.
The ruling, however, raises fresh concerns about the police’s handling of disciplinary matters, particularly regarding fundamental human rights violations.
Meanwhile, human rights groups have called for stricter measures to prevent arbitrary detentions and inhumane treatment of detainees.
