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On Thursday, a Federal High Court in Abuja gave the Incorporated Trustees of Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy the permission to apply for an order of mandamus the mandate the Inspector-General of Police, to prosecute Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential flagbearer over alleges perjury.
Justice Inyang Ekwo granted the leave to the NGO while delivering the judgment in an ex-parte application argued by the group’s lawyer, Ugo Nwofor.
The NGO mentioned above filed the ex-parte application following the alleged refusal of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to arrest and prosecute Tinubu for allegedly lying under oath regarding his educational qualifications.
Nwofor, while moving the application, informed Justice Ekwo that it maintained the rule of the Federal High Court to first obtain the court’s permission before proceeding with a suit seeking an order to compel the police chief to carry out his constitutional duties.
Justice Ekwo, in a brief ruling, held that the ex-parte application was meritorious and subsequently granted it and fixed November 1 as the suit’s substantive hearing date.
The group’s main suit, dated and filed on July 4, has the Nigerian Police Force and the Inspector-General of Police as first and second respondents.
The CSO said the suit against the police was necessitated by the IG’s refusal to take action on its petition against Tinubu over an offense it claimed the presidential candidate was indicted on by the Lagos State House of Assembly in 1999.
The applicant maintained that by Sections 214 and 215 of the constitution and Section 4 of the Nigerian Police Act, 2020, the police have the statutory responsibility to “prevent, detect and investigate criminal allegations whether brought to their notice by individuals, person or persons, corporate bodies, institutions etc.”
Consequently, the applicant in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1058/2022 is asking the court for “An order of mandamus compelling the respondents to comply with Sections 31 and 32 of the Police Act and Section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015 in respect of alleged crime laid out in complaint of the applicant encapsulated in the letter of June 16, 2022 received by the respondents on the same date and titled, Demand for Criminal Prosecution of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu under Sections 191,192 and 463 of the Criminal Code Act, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 Consequent upon the Findings of the Lagos State House of Assembly Ad-hoc Committee, 1999.”
The applicant claimed that by Section 31 of the Nigerian Police Act, the respondents are duty bound to investigate alleged crime brought to them and report their findings to the Attorney General of the Federation or of a state, as the case may be, for legal advice.
In its petition to the IGP, the applicant claimed that Tinubu lied on oath in his form CF 001 he submitted to INEC in aid of his qualification for the governorship election in Lagos State in 1999.
The applicant claimed that Tinubu “forged all the educational certificates he listed in his INEC Form CF 001 which he admitted he did not possess in annexure C.”
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#NGO
#perjury
#Tinubu
# Tinubu’s prosecution
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