A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has declined to nullify Regulation 127 which prohibits female police officers from getting married.
The Regulation provides that “an unmarried woman police officer, who becomes pregnant, shall be discharged from the Force and shall not be re-enlisted except with the approval of the Inspector General of Police”.
The Court decision followed an action filed by the Nigerian Bar Association querying the legality of the provision which, it argued, was not only in conflict with the 1999 constitution (as amended), but also amounted to discrimination against an unmarried female police officer.
Citing the case of Omolola Olajide, a female police officer who was sacked in Ekiti State on January 26, 2021, for being pregnant while unmarried, the NBA maintained that such discriminatory Regulation has also rendered many female officers childless for fear of being sacked.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), in a counter-affidavit asked that it should be dismissed.
He contended that the Regulation the NBA complained about was in order as it was made pursuant to an extant law.
Delivering his judgment Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday upheld the submissions of the AGF.
According to him, the suit lacked merit, stressing that such unmarried female police officers were aware of the regulation before they joined the force.
