Three Abuja police officers dismissed for collecting N1.8m bribe
Three police officers in Abuja – Joseph Okan, Joshua Madami, and Cyprian Nwankwo – are now out of job after being found guilty of misconduct.
Okan, Madami and Nwankwo had been dismissed by the Police Force for receiving $5,000 (about N1.8m) bribe but they sought to overturn their dismissal at the National Industrial Court, Abuja.
They had claimed that their dismissal was unlawful and not in accordance with the rules of Police Act. Their counsel had requested that they should be reinstated and be paid their salaries and allowances from the time of their dismissal.
The counsel also sought payment of N500m as damages for the claimants.
Justice Rakiya Haastrup, however, ruled on Monday (today) that the officers’ dismissal by the Inspector-General of Police was justifiable.
Haastrup ruled that their failure to tender their employment letters was detrimental to their case.
The judge, NAN reports, also held that “from the totality of evidence adduced by the claimants, they failed to prove their employment with the defendant, the terms and also the conditions regulating their employment.”
“Also, how the defendants have breached the said terms and conditions of employment, which is now left to speculation and which is unacceptable in law,” she added.
The judge further held that the law required that a party who alleged unlawful termination of employment must establish his case.
She said it was the responsibility of the claimants to prove their unlawful dismissal before they could be entitled to the reliefs they sought.
She also held that there was no evidence before the court brought by the claimants to support their claim of unlawful dismissal.
The judge said that all the reliefs sought by the claimants in the suit failed in its entirety and, accordingly, dismissed the suit.
