…Demands N550m as Damages

…Insist he is still a DIG until 2029

 By Kingsley Omonobi – Abuja

A former Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of ICT, and Research and Development, DIG Moses Jitoboh (Rtd) has sued the Police Service Commission (PSC) at the National Industrial Court over his compulsory retirement when he is yet to attain the mandatory retirement tenure of 35 years in service nor the age limit of 60 years.

Retired DIG Jitoboh, is also “praying the National Industrial Court to declare his retirement as as wrongful, unconstitutional, and unlawful”.

His statement of claims further described his compulsory retirement “as a flagrant violation of Rule 020810 of the Public Service Rules and Section 18 (8) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, respectively”.

Additionally, DIG Jitoboh is praying for an order of the National Industrial court “directing the PSC to pay the sum of ₦500million only as general damages for the unwarranted embarrassment caused by the purported termination of his employment as he had been portrayed to be a disloyal office”r.

He also want the court to order “the payment of another sum of ₦50 million to him as the cost of prosecuting the ongoing action.

Furthermore, the retired DIG is seeking a “declaration of the National Industrial Court that pursuant to Section 4 (3) of the Police Service Commission Act, 2001 the defendant (PSC) has no valid board to take any decision whatsoever purporting to retire or promote any police officer as the PSC Board tenure elapsed in July of 2023.

He insisted that “he was and remains an officer of the Nigeria Police Force until the 10th day of June, 2029 when he would have attained 35 years in service and duly retire, and that he is therefore entitled to his salaries, emoluments and all other paraphernalia of office due to him”.

It would be recalled that the PSC in a statement on Monday, August 28, 2023 compulsorily announced the retirement of DIG Jitoboh and three other DIGs on the grounds of upholding police tradition of retiring officers when a junior police officer is promoted over senior officers to avoid ‘status reversal’

The PSC said the order became imperative because PSC had expected those DIGs who were seniors in rank prior to the Acting IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, to voluntarily retire.

The PSC said such expected application was in consonance with the revered tradition of discipline and regimented culture of the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Commission, having waited for ample time with no such application from any of them, took the decision to compulsorily retire them in order to uphold discipline which is the bedrock of the Force, and to discourage status reversal which is inherently inimical to the exercise of authority by the Inspector General”, the PSC said .