National Commandant, Peace Corps of Nigeria, Dr. Dickson Akoh yesterday disclosed that the Corps lost over 120 million naira being damages done to the physical infrastructure, furniture and the state-of-the-Art equipment installed in the Corps headquarters, Abuja before the commissioning.
The Corps headquarters was sealed for three years between 28th February 2017 to 3rd March 2020 by the Nigerian Police Force after the office was commissioned.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja on the opening of the sealed Peace Corps headquarters by the Nigerian Police, he stressed that the misrepresentation, misconception and the psychological damages done to members of the corps nationwide cannot be monetarily quantified.
Akoh said that on Monday 3rd March this year, the management of the corps received the news of the unsealing of its Headquarters by the Police stressing that the action of the Police was predicated on the directive by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami that ‘the Police should obey the subsisting and valid Judgement and Orders of the Federal High Court and vacate this property and our offices nationwide’.
According to him, in the aftermath of Police sealing the office and subsequent clamp down on the offices nationwide, the corps took the case to the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja where a judgement was delivered in favour of the corps by Justice Gabriel Kolawole on the 9th of November, 2017.
The Court declared the action of the Police as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.
He said the Court further gave an Order that the Police vacate the property and other offices nationwide hence it awarded 12.5 million naira in favor of the corps.
Akoh noted that “in the charges filed by the Police against the Incorporated Trustees of the Peace Corps of Nigeria and my humble self in the Federal High Court before His Lordship, Hon. Justice John Tsoho, on the 14th of February, 2018, the Court Ordered the Police to vacate this facility. Based on this twin Orders of the Court, the Federal Ministry of Justice on two occasions intervened and wrote to the then Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, to obey the Court orders, which he ignored with classical impunity.”
He said the corps have collectively resolved to put the past challenges behind it and remain focused on how to embark on confidence building and institutional synergy with the Police and other relevant agencies in the spirit of patriotism.
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