Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court has ordered the Inspector- General of Police, IGP, to produce five former senior police officers for prosecution over alleged age falsification while in service.
Justice Yusuf Halilu issued the order yesterday after the prosecution counsel, Rimamsomte Ezekiel expressed disappointment over the former officers absence in court, in spite of being served with the charge.
Halilu said: “You are the prosecutor. You should do all within your powers to ensure that the defendants attend court on the next adjourned date for the purpose of arraignment.”
He subsequently adjourned until September 25 for the prosecution to produce the five suspects.
The five former senior police officers are AIG Idowu Owohunwa (rtd), CP Benneth Igweh (rtd), CP Ukachi Peter Opara (rtd), DCP Obo Ukam Obo (rtd) and ACP Simon Lough (rtd)
They are listed as defendants in a 14-count charge brought against them by the Inspector-General of Police.
In the charge marked CR/353/2025 Owohunwa, Igwe, Opera, Obo and Lough were charged with among others, conspiracy, age falsification and forgery.
At the start of proceedings, Ezekiel noted that the accused persons were absent in court.
He told the court that the five suspects have all been served with the charge as required by law and that they were expected to be in court for their arraignment.
“They were all served with the charge last week Thursday. They were all informed to be in court today, but none of them is present.
“We find it difficult to ask for a bench warrant because they have not been arraigned before this court,” Ezekiel said.
He subsequently applied for an adjournment to enable the prosecution produce the defendants for arraignment.
