The female police corporal attached to Ekiti State Police Command, Olajide Omolola, who was sacked for getting pregnant outside wedlock, has been awarded N5million in damages.
Justice D. K. Damulak who delivered a landmark judgment at the Akure Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court on Wednesday, January 11, struck down Regulation 127 of the Nigeria Police Regulation made pursuant to the Police Establishment Act 2020 which provides for the sack of an unmarried woman police officer who gets pregnant.
Damulak held that the police regulation which permits the dismissal of unmarried pregnant policewomen was “discriminatory, illegal, null and void”.
The Judge who noted that the police regulation cannot stand as it was not applicable to unmarried policemen who impregnate women, added that it violates section 42 of the Constitution and article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Ratification and Enforcement Act which abolished discrimination on basis of gender.
Justice Damulak further awarded aggravated damages of N5 million for the violation of Omolola’s fundamental right to freedom from discrimination.
Omolola’s prayer for reinstatement as a police officer was however refused by the court. The judge upheld the submission of the police counsel, Mr. P.S Abisagbo, to the effect that she could not be reinstated as she was on probation at the time of her dismissal from the Nigeria Police Force.