Crime-fighting Nigerian policeman, illegally dismissed 30 years ago, awaits justice

It is a shocking accusation. And it came from within the ranks of the Nigerian police.

In 1984, Edward Oyamendan, then a superintendent of police (SP), and his team at the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Port Harcourt, received information that some persons were about to take delivery of containers of drugs with fake documents at the Onne Wharf in Port Harcourt.

The team began an investigation immediately and arrested two suspects, Usman Shehu and Charles Ohaju.

Under interrogation, Mr Ohaju reportedly confessed to faking the documents used to release the containers and misappropriating Mr Shehu’s import duty. A search at his house and office reportedly recovered fake rubber stamps bearing various inscriptions.

The police detained the two suspects and impounded four containers linked to the case.

Mr Oyamendan told PREMIUM TIMES that he wrote an interim report recommending that Mr Ohaju be prosecuted for forgery and stealing, and Mr Shehu be released on bail pending further investigations into the real contents, the types of drugs involved, and other possible criminal involvements in the case.

The Chief Magistrate in charge of Port Harcourt Magisterial District granted Mr Shehu bail and remanded Mr Ohaju in police custody.

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES in May, Mr Oyemendan said that after he and the men of the state CID resisted pressure to release the four containers, Mr Shehu threatened to take the matter to Lagos, the then-Force Headquarters.

“On 15 June 1984, Mr Shehu returned to Port Harcourt with Bukar Biri, a senior police officer who took over the investigation. Mr Biri released Mr Ohaju and the four containers to Mr Shehu,” Mr Oyamendan said.

On 25 October 1984, Mr Oyamendan was suddenly suspended from work. A week later, on 2 November 1984, he received a query with reference no. P.8201/40 from the office of the IGP, to which he replied on 8 November 1984.

Mr Oyamendan was later served with a notice of dismissal for “unspecified reasons”. Subsequently, he was arbitrarily forced out of service on 30 December 1986.

The ex-police officer said his dismissal was to silence him from challenging Mr Biri’s unlawful attitude. “I was humiliated and my family was disgraced just because I wanted to serve my nation and to serve God,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.

“I lost seven ranks just because I chose to serve my nation in sincerity,” he said, adding, “None of my colleagues retired below the rank of a Commissioner of Police.”

In 1987, Mr Oyamendan sued the then IGP and Police Service Commission at the Rivers State High Court.

Court documents show that Mr Oyamendan was the sole witness and gave evidence on his behalf, while the IGP and the Police Service Commission ignored the suit. The judge ruled that Mr Oyamendan was illegally punished, and ordered the police to reinstate the officer and pay his entitlements up to the date of reinstatement.

Citing the country’s federal civil service rules, the judge noted that before an officer is suspended or dismissed, the agency that alleged misconduct shall report the matter to the Police Service Commission, which shall notify the accused person in writing, proposal to dismiss him and the grounds for doing so and call on him to make his defence in writing.

“The matter shall then be investigated by a panel, and the officer is entitled to appear before the panel and have access to the documents which shall be used against him,” the judge said, adding that the federal civil service rules were not complied with in the case.

“From the evidence available, the plaintiff was not allowed to make a representation, oral or written, before any panel or to challenge the adverse witnesses.”

Therefore, the judge ruled that the dismissal of Mr Oyamendan was “invalid, void and of no effect whatsoever.” He held that the dismissal of the officer was unconstitutional, being against the principle of “natural justice and it was irregular, wrongful and unjustifiable.”

The judge ordered the police to reinstate the plaintiff effective 28 April 1992 and directed the payment of his arrears from November 1984 to April 1992.

“Payment to the plaintiff by the defendants of all other employment benefits, inclusive of allowances, such as transport, housing and leave allowances payable to officers of equivalent rank with the plaintiff,” the judge said in court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

Before his travails, Mr Oyamendan was one of the officers deployed to restore law and order during the 1980 Mai Tatsine crisis in Kano State. “I have served the country with sincerity, and I have done a good job,” he said.

It took the Police Service Commission over 20 years to comply with the court ruling.

In a letter dated 19 December 2011, the police stated that Mr Oyamendan was reinstated not because he was absolved of the allegations against him, but because he was pardoned.

However, Mr Oyamendan refused to accept the reinstatement on the grounds of pardon. He insisted that he should be reinstated in line with the court ruling.

After he petitioned former President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the issue in 2015, Mr Buhari directed a panel of inquiry to investigate the matter, Mr Oyamendan said.

“I told the investigative panel that the police were covering up a crime. I produced all the documents and reminded them that my life has been in danger. They wanted to eliminate me at that time. It was only God that saved me,” Mr Oyamendan told PREMIUM TIMES.

The panel of inquiry recommended that Mr Oyamendan should be reinstated, and a new reinstatement letter was issued to him on 19 December 2016.

“In line with the policy of the Commission to obey Court judgements and in compliance with the Order of the High Court of Rivers State, Port Harcourt in suit No. PHC/4/77/07 of 28th April, the Commission hereby reinstates you into the Nigeria Police W.E.F 28 March 1984 and retires W.E.F 28 April 1992,” the reinstatement letter read.

Following his reinstatement, Mr Oyamendan wrote to the PSC requesting his entitlement to be paid. He was referred to the last command he served in, the Port Harcourt Police Command.

“The Port Harcourt command prepared my salary and arrears, which amounted to about N18 million, and sent it to the Force Headquarters in 2020,” Mr Oyamendan said.

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However, in a suit filed at the Industrial Court in Port Harcourt, the retired officer swore under oath that instead of paying his full entitlement, the police paid him about N1.9 million. “It is a great embarrassment that they only paid my entitlement more than 30 years after the court judgement.”

He appealed to the Industrial Court to order the Inspector General of Police and Police Service Commission to “pay all his entitlement on the prevailing salary structure of 2019 and allowances chart of the same period, less the sum of N1,952,710.60 paid, which balance sum is N34,715,121.00.”

Mr Oyamendan told PREMIUM TIMES that his dismissal brought a stigma to him and his family. “It was a shame they put me on to humiliate me and my family. I suffered from social deprivation. People couldn’t believe I was dismissed just because I refused a bribe until I got the court judgement in my favour.”

“It is because of the fear of punishment that many police officers are corrupt. Because if they do the correct thing, they could be punished. I want to encourage others to join the police force so that they can help the government and the larger society and have a better Nigeria,” he said.

Police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi didn’t respond to several calls and messages from PREMIUM TIMES, requesting an official comment on the issue.