The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has instituted legal action against the Police Service Commission (PSC), the Inspector General of Police, and other key authorities over what it described as the “unjust and undue delay” in the conversion and promotion of legal practitioners serving in the Nigeria Police Force to the specialist legal cadre.
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The suit, filed on September 3, 2025, at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, and marked NICN/ABJ/264/2025, seeks an order compelling the defendants to immediately upgrade all junior police officers who are qualified lawyers to the substantive rank of Superintendent of Police (SP).
According to the NBA, the defendants have failed to implement the provisions of the Nigeria Police Force (Establishment) Act 2020 and Force Order 137 of the Ratified Force Order 2013, thereby leaving police lawyers stranded in junior ranks for years despite carrying out full legal responsibilities.
The association emphasized that, unlike professionals in medicine, engineering, accountancy, and aviation who enjoy automatic conversion to specialist cadres with corresponding promotions, lawyers in the police remain at the ranks of Inspector, Sergeant, and Corporal while appearing in courts daily to prosecute and defend cases on behalf of the Force.
“This is an assault on the dignity and nobility of the legal profession, reeks of double standards, and can no longer in good conscience be condoned,” said Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), in a statement issued Friday.
The NBA explained that some officers enlisted into the Police Force as already-qualified lawyers, while others became lawyers with the Force’s approval during service. In both cases, Section 18(9) and (11) of the Police Act mandates their conversion to the legal cadre a statutory provision the NBA says has been consistently ignored.
The association stressed that despite several interventions by past NBA administrations, no progress was made, and police lawyers continue to be deployed for legal duties without formal recognition of their professional status, in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The case was filed by SPIDEL’s Public Interest Litigation Committee, chaired by Mr. Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun, SAN.
In its prayers before the court, the NBA is seeking “an order compelling the Defendants to forthwith upgrade all junior police officers who are lawyers to the substantive rank of Superintendent of Police (SP), having been deployed as legal officers by the Defendants.”
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The NBA urged the Police Service Commission, the Inspector General of Police, and all parties to the suit to respect the judicial process, desist from harassing police lawyers, and await the court’s decision in good faith.
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