An Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Aishatu Abubakar-Baju, has said police laws and regulations mandating the dismissal of unmarried policewomen who gets pregnant while in active service have been expunged.
Abubakar-Baju, who is the most senior female police officer in Nigeria, stated this when she appeared on Channels TV on Wednesday, March 12. Abubakar-Baju mentioned that laws discriminating against women in the Nigeria Police Force have been deleted for inclusion.
When reminded of the case of Omolola Olajide, an unmarried police corporal in Ekiti State who was dismissed in 2021 for being pregnant, she said;
“That Section 127 and any section of the Police Act and regulation that has gender discrimination have been expunged, looking at the Police Act of 2020 and the police reform that is currently going on.
“The IGP (Inspector General of Police) has just last year launched the Nigeria Police Gender Policy just to make sure that there is complete eradication of any form of gender discrimination.
“I can tell you that the Nigeria Police has come of age, and the IG is intentional about inclusivity and making sure that the Nigeria Police is an equal opportunity institution,” she added.
Olajide’s dismissal in 2021 sparked outrage with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) approaching a Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the legality of Section 127 of the police regulations. The court dismissed the suit for lacking merit, ruling that such officers were aware of the regulation before their admission into the Force. Unfazed, the NBA approached a Court of Appeal in Lagos to challenge the judgment of the lower court. In May 2024, the appellate court voided the regulations 126 and 127 of the Nigeria Police Act which allowed the dismissal of unmarried policewomen who become pregnant in service.