Police clarify stance on Dikko, Abubakar

The Police authorities have said that the Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko, and the Chief Operating officer of the body, Salihu Abubakar, are not wanted by law enforcement agents as reported by a section of the media.

There were reports that the duo were wanted by the Police for contempt of court on the orders of a Jos Federal High Court, which handled a case involving the LMC and Giwa FC.

It will be recalled that upon the arrival in Abuja of the Super Eagles from Zambia, where the team defeated the Chipolopolo 2-1 in a Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier on October 9, two unidentified men approached Dikko, who is also the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) Second Vice President, and attempted to take him away purportedly on the orders of the FCT Commissioner of Police.

Although they did not present any form of identification, Dikko informed the men that he would see the Abuja Police boss in the morning, as it was already past midnight then and went further to contact the Police Headquarters to ascertain the veracity of the said invitation.

Dikko later met the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Mustapha, and other high ranking officers, where the Abuja chief law enforcement officer clarified that he had at no time ordered or directed the arrest of Dikko or Salihu Abubakar for any reason whatsoever.

He further recalled that some persons had approached his office in the night with a photocopy of an alleged Court order of the Jos High Court, which is outside his jurisdiction, purportedly for the committal of Dikko and Abubakar for contempt of court in Jos.

At the meeting, Dikko clarified, with documentary evidence, that the LMC has filed an appeal against all the three orders made by the Jos High Court in the suit challenging the expulsion of Giwa FC from the League for multiple infractions of the Framework and Rules of the NPFL.

He also urged the Police boss to impress on his men the need to allow the process of the law in the Court of Appeal to proceed unhindered in this matter so as not to inhibit the jurisdiction of the court in any way, pending the making of final orders or judgment in the case, which is totally civil in nature.

Mustapha said he had received appropriate legal advise, both from the office of the Inspector General of Police and his own FCT Command legal office on the need for the force to maintain neutrality in this civil case since all parties were before the Court of Appeal and have submitted their issues for adjudication by that court.

He assured that the IGP placed great premium on his officers and men being law-abiding and that his Command will be guided by this position and refrain from interfering with this case and the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal.

The FCT Police boss further directed the DCP Operations to beef up security within the LMC offices and around the person of the LMC Chairman to ensure safety of all.

Speaking on the latest development, Dikko described the Jos High Court order against his person and Abubakar as oppressive and unjustifiable., arguing that the Court made the order of committal for contempt of court without any application whatsoever filed before it for that purpose.

He pointed out that the injustice of the ruling was compounded by the fact that a false affidavit of service of Forms 48 and 49 was procured. He insisted that the order of committal for contempt was made in order to intimidate the LMC from pursuing the case at the Court of Appeal so that the many injustices committed in the handling of the case would not be exposed.

He revealed that steps had been taken in addition to the appeal filed by LMC to report the questionable judicial conduct of the Judge of the Jos High Court to the National Judicial Council (NJC), while the matter of the false affidavit of service procured by the Jos High Court bailiffs has been reported to the Chief Justice of Plateau State.

He also disclosed that the LMC has filed another petition to the Chief Justice of Plateau State reporting the Abuja Airport incidence, which was all as a result of the unfair court orders issued under his jurisdiction, which is now being used to mischievously mislead the Police, despite the pendency of the appeal.

He assured Nigerians that the league body “would continue to follow all the right legal steps to respond to any orchestrated attack on the LMC, NPFL, the participating clubs and its officers and, we will never be distracted.”