The federal high on Monday upheld the Rule 127 of the Nigeria Police Force Rules (NPFR) which states that an unmarried female police officer should not get pregnant while still in active service, if she does, she will be sacked and can only be reinstated at the discretion and recommendation of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); an umbrella for lawyers in Nigeria took the Police Service Commission (PSC), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Federal Government of Nigeria (through the Attorney General of Federation) to court, to question the illegality and unconstitutionality or otherwise of this rule 127 of the Nigeria police force rules (NPFR).
The NBA submitted and prayed the court to hold that the said rule is discriminatory, thereby contradicting s.42 of the constitution and should therefore be reversed or amended.
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This provision which is deemed discriminatory against the female gender is in total contradiction to the section of the constitution that specifically states that nobody should be discriminated based on his or her sex, religion, race et al. This is the magnanimous provision of section 42 of the 1999 constitution as amended as it read thus:
- (1) A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:-
(a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or
(b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions.
(2) No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.
It was on this succinct reason that the Nigerian Bar Union approached the federal high court to have this rule upturned and the court should give an order reinstating every female police officer who have been sacked by the Nigerian police and the police service commission because they got pregnant while on active service.
This section of the police rule became a subject of public debate after it came to the public knowledge when the police force sacked one Ms Omolola Olajide, a female police officer, in Ekiti State on January 26, 2021, for getting pregnant while unmarried; the NBA, decided to take up the matter as a public interest case to make the court reverse or amend the rule 127 of the police code of conduct as it by every means discriminates against unmarried female police officers.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, declined to invalidate Regulation 127 of the Nigeria Police Force which the NBA brought a motion to challenge and prayed the court to invalidate. The court held that the rule 127 is no way discriminatory and that it is there in the police rules as a code of conduct to upheld the moral sanctity of the police force and to ensure that those in the service are at all round well to ensure that they diligently discharge their duties.
His Lordship, Justice Inyang Ekwo further held that every female officer that signed up to join the police force was aware of the rule 127 before signing up and can withdraw whenever they deem it necessary as joining the police force is not and has never been mandatory.