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By Myke Agunwa
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the Nigeria Police Force over its plan to reactivate enforcement of the tinted glass permit policy, accusing the police of contempt of court and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.
The criticism followed a press statement issued on Monday, December 15, 2025, by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, announcing that enforcement of the suspended policy would resume nationwide from January 2, 2026.
In a statement released on Tuesday by the Nigeria Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL) and signed by Dr. Uju Agomoh, Chair of NBA-SPIDEL, the association said the announcement contradicted subsisting court proceedings and assurances earlier given by the police before the Federal High Court.
NBA-SPIDEL recalled that on September 2, 2025, it instituted a suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the legality of the tinted glass permit policy. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1821/2025, questioned the constitutional and statutory powers of the Nigeria Police Force to impose fees or financial obligations on citizens under the policy.
According to the association, the Inspector General of Police and other defendants were duly served and had engaged a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Ayotunde Ogunleye (SAN), to represent them in the matter.
The group also referenced an interim injunction issued on October 3, 2025, by the Federal High Court, Warri Division, in a separate suit, restraining the police from enforcing the policy pending the determination of an interlocutory application.
Following public backlash and the court order, NBA-SPIDEL said the Inspector General of Police met with NBA leaders, including Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), where it was agreed that enforcement of the policy would be suspended until all pending court cases were resolved.
The Abuja suit, NBA continued, came up for hearing on December 12, 2025, before Justice M.S. Liman. During proceedings, Chief Ogunleye (SAN), informed the court that enforcement of the policy had already been suspended, an assurance the court relied upon in striking out the plaintiff’s motion for interlocutory injunction.
NBA-SPIDEL expressed shock that barely one working day after the court accepted that assurance, the police announced plans to resume enforcement of the policy.
“This development is befuddling, disconcerting and deeply troubling,” the association said, describing the move as “audacious impunity” and “reckless contempt for institutional integrity” by a body constitutionally charged with enforcing the law.
The group stressed that the Abuja suit has been heard and reserved for judgment and insisted that the police have a constitutional duty to await the court’s decision without taking steps that could preempt or undermine the judicial process.
NBA-SPIDEL consequently called on the Inspector General of Police to immediately withdraw the statement announcing the resumption of enforcement and halt all actions on the tinted glass permit policy until the courts deliver final judgments.
It warned that failure to do so would compel the association to initiate committal proceedings against the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Force Public Relations Officer for contempt of court.
The association further noted that the statement made in open court by Chief Ogunleye (SAN), constituted a judicial undertaking binding on the defendants and that any action contrary to it amounts to overreaching the court.
Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu (1986), NBA-SPIDEL maintained that executive lawlessness has no place in a democracy founded on the rule of law.
The group said it hoped the police authorities would be properly advised and promptly retract what it described as an unlawful and contemptuous posture.