Five retired senior police officers charged with age falsification failed to appear for the third time on Thursday at the Federal Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja for their scheduled arraignment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the five former police officers include Idowu Owohunwa, a retired assistant inspector general of police and former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State; Benneth Igweh, a retired commissioner of police; and Ukachi Opara, another retired commissioner of police.
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The rest are Obo Ukam Obo, a retired deputy commissioner of police, and Simon Lough, a retired assistant commissioner of police and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who was a leading prosecution lawyer for the police until his retirement.
The office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) charged the defendants with 14 counts under the Penal Code.
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The defendants were absent again when the case was called on Thursday, stalling their arraignment for the third time.
Prosecution lawyer Rimamsomte Ezekiel told the court that the five officers had been served with the charges as required by law and were expected to appear in court for their arraignment.
“My Lord, this is the third time they will be absent. Their counsel, Goddy Uche, SAN, should produce them by the next adjourned date,” he told the judge.
However, the lawyer who appeared for the defendants, J. T. Aondo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the court that his clients had not been served with the charges.
He also said efforts were being made to resolve the case out of court.
“This matter rests on the esprit de corps principle, and the former IGP, Mike Okiro, is looking into the matter to see if it could be internally settled,” he said, also informing the court that the defence had filed a preliminary objection against the case.
Picking holes in the defence lawyer’s submission, prosecution lawyer Mr Ezekiel asked rhetorically how they could brief a lawyer to represent them in court if they had not been served the charges.
Judge Halilu Yusuf told the defence lawyer to produce his clients in court so that they could take their plea.
He subsequently adjourned the matter until 17 November for arraignment.
The prosecution lawyer expressed disappointment over the defendants’ non-appearance in court at the previous sitting despite being served with the charge.
This prompted the trial judge to order the IGP to do everything possible to produce the defendants in court.
Charges
The police charged the defendants with 14 counts, accusing them of falsifying their ages to extend their service years. According to the prosecution, the alleged offences contravened Sections 97, 161, 366, and 158 of the Penal Code.
The police alleged that Mr Owohunwa, the former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, dishonestly falsified and submitted a Declaration of Age dated 4 April 1990 that he was born on 20 July 1970. The prosecution said he submitted the declaration of age to the police in December 2024 in Abuja, an act it said was punishable under Section 366 of the Penal Code Law.
The prosecution similarly accused Mr Igwe, a retired commissioner of police, of falsifying his date of birth to 7 October 1968 instead of the true 7 October 1964. He was also accused of falsely claiming to be enlisted in the Nigerian police in 1996, whereas investigations showed that he was actually enlisted on 1 May 1988.
For his part, Mr Lough, a SAN and former police prosecutor, was accused of “dishonestly and fraudulently” altering and faking his date of birth to be 14 May 1969 when his actual date of birth was 14 May 1967. He was also accused of claiming to have been enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force on 1 August 1987 to remain in office until January 2015, when he should have retired on 1 August 2022.
The police said he made these claims in 2022 to remain in the service of the Nigeria Police Force, against the Public Service Rule of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In another count, the police accused all five defendants of falsifying their ages and documents in the name of the Nigeria Police Force. They allegedly refused to vacate their offices when they were supposed to leave on retirement in line with the Public Service Rule of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The police alleged that they claimed that they remained in office and illegally benefited from their offices’ privileges, thereby committing the offence of cheating punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Law.”
The prosecution also alleged that on 22 November 2019, at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Garki, Abuja, they dishonestly used a falsified police signal to deceive and obtain a judgment against the Nigeria Police Force, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 161 of the Penal Code Law.
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In another count, they were accused of misleading the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and the general public on 25 March 2025 by deposing to an affidavit claiming that they were all serving members of the Nigeria Police Force, knowing that they had served and retired from the force. They allegedly made the spurious claim in the case of AIG Idowu Owohunwa & 2 Ors vs PSC & 7 Ors in suit NICN/ABJ/88/2025.
Sahara Reporters reported that the charges stemmed from a petition filed by the Integrity Youth Alliance, a civil society group led by Kelvin Adegbenga, which in January 2025 accused them of manipulating official records to prolong their service.
Based on the petition, the IGP, on 7 January, issued queries to the affected police officers.
In his response, Mr Owohunwa reportedly admitted that a clerical “mix-up” had mistakenly altered his birth year on his APER Form but insisted his official appointment date of 15 August 1996 remained unchanged.
Messrs Igwe and Lough also reportedly stated that the petitioner had confused their files with the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) scheme, which allowed qualified officers to be upgraded under specific conditions.
(NAN)
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