Peace Corps wins big as Reps order police to unseal PCN office within 21 days

The House of Representatives has ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Idris Ibrahim, to unseal the National Headquarters of Peace Corps of Nigeria within 21 days.

This followed the recommendation of the House Committee on Public Petitions, which conducted investigative hearing into the “illegal” closure of Peace Corps facilities and the “flagrant” disobedience to subsisting court orders to unseal the premises.

Presenting the report of the investigation to the plenary on Wednesday, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Nkem Abonta, said series of invitations were sent to the Inspector-General of Police to appear before the committee but he refused to honour.

Abonta also said, the committee obtained a document which showed that, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami wrote to the IGP and advised him to honour the subsisting court orders, “in absence of any appeal or valid stay of execution”.

He told the House that, a legal officer who represented the IGP at public hearing committed perjury, stressing that, “he lied under oath that there was a valid stay of execution”, but when time was given that he produced a proof of stay, he could not produce any.

Abonta expressed concern that, it would spell doom for Nigerian democracy and it would also give room to anarchy, if “an agency of the Federal Government (police) continues to disobey orders of the court”.

While adopting the recommendation of the committee, the House urged Police to comply with the subsisting court orders and the instruction from the AGF.

The police have 21 days from the commencement of Wednesday’s plenary, to vacate the properties of Peace Corps.