The
provision of the Police Act, which prohibits a female officer from marrying a
man of her choice without the permission of the Commissioner of Police in the
command where she is serving, has been declared illegal and unconstitutional by
a Federal High Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
Trial judge, Justice Steven Adah, rejected
the arguments of the Attorney-General of the Federation and held that
Regulation 124 was illegal, null and void due to its inconsistency with Section
42 of the 1999 Constitution.
The court declared the Regulation
unconstitutional and proceeded to annul pursuant to Section 1(3) of the
Constitution.
Women Empowerment and Legal Aid Initiative,
WELA, had brought the suit, challenging the constitutional validity of the said
Regulation 124.
The said Regulation states: “A woman police
officer who is desirous of marrying must first apply in writing to the
Commissioner of Police for the state command in which she is serving,
requesting permission to marry and giving name, address and occupation of the
person she intends to marry. Permission will be granted for the marriage if the
intended husband is of good character and the woman police officer has served
in the force for a period of not less than three years.”
WELA counsel had arguing that it was
illegal to ban a woman police officer for three years before entering into a
marriage and that seeking permission of a Police Commissioner was an infraction
of her fundamental right to dignity and freedom of choice.
The group had contended that since a male
police officer was not subjected to the same inhibitions, Regulation 124 was
inconsistent with section 42 of the constitution and Article 2 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which have prohibited discrimination on
the basis of sex.
The group had asked the court to expunge
the said Regulation from the Police Act, as it was not justifiable in a
democratic state such as Nigeria, which had domesticated the African Charter on
Human and Peoples Rights and ratified the Protocol to the African Charter
on Human and People Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
CEDAW..
Attorney-General of the Federation, through
his counsel, had contended that the said regulation was designed to protect
women police officers from falling into the hands of criminals, adding that the
purpose of the law was to prevent women police officers from marrying men of
bad character.
The AGF further contended that the
three-year ban was meant to ensure that a woman police officer was not pregnant
“during the rigorous training she must undergo after her employment.”