Ministry asks lawyer to provide laws on FCT Police Commissioner
The Federal Ministry of Justice has asked a legal practitioner to provide relevant laws backing his letter against the offices of Commissioner, Deputy and Assistant Commissioners of Police for the FCT. A human rights activist, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, had petitioned the president to render the creation of these offices as null and void, citing the […]
The FCT minister, Muhammad Musa Bello
The Federal Ministry of Justice has asked a legal practitioner to provide relevant laws backing his letter against the offices of Commissioner, Deputy and Assistant Commissioners of Police for the FCT.
A human rights activist, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, had petitioned the president to render the creation of these offices as null and void, citing the provisions of Section 2 of CAP 516, Laws of FCT (2006) and Section 2 of the Police Act.
Section 2 of CAP 516 provides that, “Where a written law is expressed to be applicable to the FCT-Abuja, as though it were a state, in its application, reference to the Attorney-General, a Commissioner, the Director-General or the Commissioner of Police of a state shall mean respectively in respect of the FCT-Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation, a Minister, a Director-General, or the Inspector-General of Police.”
In the letter, Jimoh, an Abuja-based lawyer, recommended that all functions and or police commands in respect of the FCT, as the case might be, should be placed under the command of the Inspector General of Police, Deputy and Assistant Inspectors General of Police, FCT.
He also recommended that a stakeholders’ meeting should be organised immediately in order to bring the provisions of the sections he cited into effect.
The letter which was dated September 21, 2018, was copied to the Attorney General of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Justice; Chairman, Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police.
The Attorney General of the Federation, however, responded on March 26, 2019, in a letter titled: “Re: Establishment of the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners of Police for the Federal Capital Territory-Abuja”.
Signed by H.A. Tahir for the AGF, the letter read in part, “We humbly request that you furnish this office with copies of the relevant legislations referred to in your petition to enable this office advise appropriately.”