NBA drags Police Service Commission and IGP to court over delay in conversion and promotion of qualified police lawyers into the specialist legal cadre.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has dragged the Police Service Commission (PSC), the Inspector-General of Police, and other relevant authorities before the National Industrial Court over what it described as an unjustifiable delay in the conversion and promotion of legal practitioners serving within the Nigeria Police Force into the specialist legal cadre.
The case, registered as Suit No. NICN/ABJ/264/2025 and filed on September 3, 2025, in Abuja, seeks a judicial order compelling the defendants to immediately upgrade all police officers who are qualified lawyers to the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) in line with statutory provisions.
According to the NBA, the continuous neglect of qualified police lawyers constitutes a violation of the Nigeria Police Force (Establishment) Act, 2020, as well as Force Order 137 of the Ratified Force Order, 2013.
The association stressed that while professionals in medicine, engineering, aviation, accountancy, and other fields are automatically converted to specialist cadres with equivalent promotions, lawyers within the Police Force are unjustly excluded from this statutory right.
The association lamented that many officers who are fully qualified legal practitioners remain stuck at junior ranks such as Corporal, Sergeant, and Inspector, despite discharging full legal responsibilities — including prosecuting criminal cases and defending the Police Force in courts across the country.
Professor Paul Ananaba, SAN, Chairman of the NBA’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), condemned the practice, describing it as “an affront to the dignity and nobility of the legal profession, an act reeking of double standards, and a situation that can no longer be tolerated in good conscience.”
He emphasized that some officers entered the Police Force already as qualified lawyers, while others were granted approval by the Force to study law and were subsequently called to the Bar during their service years.
In both circumstances, Section 18(9) and (11) of the Police Act explicitly mandates their conversion to the legal cadre, a statutory provision the NBA insists has been repeatedly flouted by the Police authorities.
The association further recalled that successive NBA leaderships had engaged with the Police Service Commission and the Force leadership over the matter, but all interventions yielded no tangible results.
Instead, police lawyers continued to be deployed to courts to handle sensitive legal assignments without the formal recognition, promotion, and remuneration that their professional status demands.
This, the NBA argued, not only undermines the morale of officers but also breaches the Rules of Professional Conduct, as it subjects qualified lawyers to prolonged stagnation contrary to the standards of the legal profession.
The lawsuit was initiated through the Public Interest Litigation Committee of SPIDEL, chaired by Mr. Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun, SAN. By approaching the courts, the NBA said it intends to put an end to the persistent disregard for statutory provisions and restore fairness and dignity to lawyers serving in the Nigeria Police Force.
The association also appealed to the Police Service Commission, the Inspector-General of Police, and other defendants in the suit to respect the ongoing judicial process.
It urged them to desist from any further acts of intimidation or harassment against police lawyers while awaiting the decision of the court.