Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has dismissed criminal charges filed against several retired senior police officers over allegations of age falsification, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish a sustainable case and was driven by malice. Justice Yusuf Halilu, delivering judgment on Monday, 13 July 2026, discharged all the defendants, bringing the criminal proceedings against them to an end.
The case, marked FCT/HC/CR/353/2025, was instituted by the former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, against retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Idowu Owohunwa, retired Commissioner of Police Benneth Igweh, retired Commissioner of Police Ukachi Peter Opara, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police Obo Ukam Obo, and retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Simon A. Lough (SAN). The defendants were arraigned on a 14-count charge bordering on the alleged falsification of their ages and official police records.
Delivering judgment, Justice Yusuf Halilu dismissed all the charges, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a sustainable basis for the criminal case against the retired officers. The judge further ruled that the circumstances surrounding the prosecution suggested that the charges were instituted out of malice, particularly as several courts had already dismissed similar cases involving other police officers, with some of those decisions affirmed by the Court of Appeal. Justice Halilu consequently discharged the defendants, bringing the criminal proceedings against them to an end.
The ruling represents another setback for the Nigeria Police Force in its efforts to prosecute senior officers accused of falsifying their ages and service records. The age falsification scandal had been a subject of intense controversy within the force. In February 2025, SaharaReporters reported that six senior police officers implicated in alleged age falsification, forgery and the circumvention of service regulations threatened then-Inspector-General of Police Egbetokun, insisting that he must retire alongside them because he had also exceeded the statutory retirement threshold. At the time, Egbetokun had directed the officers, who were either above 60 years of age or had spent more than 35 years in service but allegedly refused to retire, to appear before the Force Disciplinary Committee at the Force Headquarters in Abuja between February 10 and February 13, 2025.
Police sources had told SaharaReporters that the disciplinary proceedings were aimed at reducing the officers' ranks or dismissing them outright. The officers, however, reportedly maintained that Egbetokun lacked the legal authority to discipline or retire them because, according to them, he had himself passed his official retirement date of September 4, 2024, and remained in office only after President Bola Tinubu signed an amendment to the Police Act extending the tenure of an Inspector-General of Police. According to sources, the officers argued that every action taken by Egbetokun after his official retirement date, including issuing retirement letters to them, was unlawful and therefore invalid. They also pointed to the police directive instructing them to appear before the disciplinary committee in their official working uniforms as evidence that the police authorities still regarded them as serving officers despite purportedly retiring them.
SaharaReporters also reported that the age falsification scandal extended far beyond the six officers, with nearly 500 police personnel allegedly implicated in forgery, falsification of age records, and the manipulation of service records to remain in office beyond the legally permitted period. While some officers quietly retired, others challenged the retirement directives in court. The Police Service Commission had earlier, in March 2025, directed the immediate retirement of certain senior officers over the age falsification scandal, which the officers consistently denied. The dismissal of the charges against the five retired officers marks a significant legal victory for the defendants and raises further questions about the validity of the Police Service Commission's actions and the integrity of the disciplinary process within the Nigeria Police Force.
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