Reps Give Police 21 Days To Unseal Peace Corps Office

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

This follows the recommendation by the House Committee on Public Petitions, which conducted investigative hearing into the closure of Peace Corps facilities and the alleged disobedience to subsisting court orders to unseal the premises.

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Two separate courts had ordered the office be unsealed, and police officers vacating the complex.

But the Nigeria Police has since refused to obey the court orders, without a valid stay of execution.

The police authorities said for the “interest of national security and public safety,” they will continue to keep the Peace Corp building under lock and key.

The Force PRO, Jimoh Moshood, said the Peace Corps of Nigeria remains proscribed, hence its operations in Nigeria are illegal.

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But speaking during plenary on Wednesday, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Nkem Abonta, said the Inspector-General of Police has failed on several occasions to honour invitations to appear before the committee.

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

The committee chairman further noted that it would spell doom for Nigerian democracy if an agency of government continues to disobey orders of the court.

The lawmakers then adopted the recommendation of the committee, directing the IGP to vacate the properties of Peace Corps.

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