The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Faruk Yahaya, has been arrested by Justice Halima Abdulmalik of the Minna High Court in Niger state.
Major General Olugbenga Olabanji, Commandant Training and Doctrine Command, Minna, was also arrested by the judge.
Justice Halima ruled that the top military commanders were in contempt of court and ordered that they be imprisoned until they repented.
According to Channels TV, the presiding judge, Justice Halima Abdulmalik, also ordered the arrest of Major General Olugbenga Olabanji, Commandant Training and Doctrine Command, Minna, for a similar offense.
Justice Abdulmalik ruled that the order commuting COAS Yahaya and Olabanji to Minna correctional custody for contempt of the court’s order issued on Wednesday, October 12, is commutable.
According to her, the two suspects will be held in custody until they are free of the contempt.
According to Legit.ng, the order was issued following a hearing on the motion on notice brought before the court in accordance with order forty-two rule ten of the Niger State High Court Civil Procedure 2018.
The case was then adjourned by Justice Abdulmalik to Thursday, December 8, for further proceedings.
In a related case, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court in Abuja recently sentenced Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to three months in prison for disobeying a court order. Following a suit filed by a former police officer, Patrick Okoli, who claimed he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigeria Police Force, the judge issued the order.
Similarly, Abdulrasheed Bawa, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was found guilty of contempt by Justice Chizoba Oji of a High Court in Abuja and sentenced to prison at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.’
While the IGP stated that he would take appropriate action against the order, Justice Oji overturned Bawa’s conviction after hearing an application brought by the EFCC chairman.