General Farouk Yahaya, the chief of army staff, is to be detained for contempt, according to an order from a federal high court in Minna, the capital of the Niger State.
The order was made in response to a notice submitted to the court in accordance with Order 42, Rule 10 of the Niger State High Court Civil Procedure 2018, according to Justice Halima Abdulmalik, who issued the warrant and presided over the case.
The COAS must remain in detention till the contempt has been “purged” from him, the judge said, adding that Yahaya will be detained in Minna correctional facility for claims of court order on October 12, 2022.
The judge also ordered that Major General Olugbenga Olabanji, the Commandant Training and Doctrine Command, Minna, be detained and imprisoned for a like offense.
The matter was then postponed until December 8 for further proceedings by Justice Abdulmalik.
According to The PUNCH, Usman Baba, the Inspector General of Police, was given a three-month prison term for defying a court order on November 29 by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Following a lawsuit brought by Patrick Okoli, a police officer who was forcibly and illegally retired from the Nigerian Police Force, the IGP was sentenced to prison.
In addition, the court mandated that the petitioner pay N10 million in special and general damages for the unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional denial of his (Patrick’s) rights and privileges as a senior officer of the Nigerian Police Force from 1993 till the present.