Bayelsa CP risks imprisonment for ignoring court order
The Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa State could spend time in prison as a Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa has sentenced him to prison for failing to comply with a court order.
The court order resulted from an earlier ruling delivered on November 26, 2016, in Suit No: YHC/210/2014, which upheld a ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, in Suit No: CA/PH/170/2018.
The ruling was delivered in favour of nine families of Yenizue-gene community in Yenagoa, the state capital, regarding a parcel of land in Asam that is being used as the operational base for the Bayelsa State-owned security outfit, Operation Doo-Akpo.
The claimant families in the suit include Fabiri, Ayoko, Aku, Ugbon, Obediah, Sampson and Boye families, all of the Yenizue-gene community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Yenagoa, the lead counsel for the claimants, Ukunbiriowei Saiyou, told journalists that the court order to imprison the Commissioner of Police was issued following a ruling by the presiding judge, Justice R. Ajuwa, on December 27, 2024.
Saiyou disclosed that the claimants initiated committal proceedings against the Commissioner of Police back in 2022 due to his non-compliance with the ruling of the court and that the police had refused to make an appearance in court or challenge the various decisions of the court.
The application for committal was formally addressed in 2024, resulting in the court’s decision to incarcerate the Commissioner of Police.
The Inspector General of Police has been urged to take action to ensure the Bayelsa State Command CP complied with the judgments issued by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt on June 10, 2021, or face potential arrest.
Saiyou pointed out that since Saipem vacated the parcel of land in Asam, located along Elebele-Opolo Road and currently housing Operation Doo-Akpo, the nine families had been unlawfully denied possession of their property.
He noted that the police and Operation Doo-Akpo had occupied the land without the consent of the families, prompting legal action, adding that while the Bayelsa State High Court ruled in favour of the families, the decision was later reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal.
He said, “We live in a society that is guided by laws and no man is above the law, not even the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command.
“We are therefore calling on the Commissioner of Police who is supposed to be the one that is enforcing the laws of the land as it pertains to Bayelsa State to obey the valid order of the court.”
