Nigerians have expressed outrage over the sacking of a female corporal, Olajide Omolola, because she got pregnant out of wedlock.
They slammed the Nigeria Police Force over what they described as a discriminatory law and called on rights group to fight for the woman.
The police, in a wireless message with reference number CJ:4161/EKS/IY/Vol.2/236, DTO:181330/01/2021 obtained by PUNCH Metro, said Omolola was dismissed for getting pregnant while unmarried.
The signal originated from the Department of Finance and Administration in Ado Ekiti and was addressed to the Divisional Police Officer at Iye Ekiti, where Omolola was based.
The chief financial officer in Ekiti was asked to relay the information to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System to ensure that her salary was stopped.
The document read, “Section 127 of the Police Act and Regulation against women police getting pregnant before marriage; W/PC (woman corporal) Olajide Omolola passed out of Police Training School on 24/04/2020 attached to yours, contravened above provisions.
“She stands dismissed from the Force. Dekit her. Retrieve police documents in her possession with immediate effect. O/C CFO Ekiti only. You are to relay signal to IPPIS Abuja for the stoppage of her salary with immediate effect.
“DECOMPOLS (Deputy Commissioners of Police)/ACPOLS (Assistant Commissioners of Police)/HODs/DPOs Ekiti State only. You are to lecture women police. Treat as very urgent.”
Our correspondents, however, gathered that the aspect of the Act relied on to justify the sacking had been repealed in the amended police Act signed into law by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in September 2020.
Part of the old law, which has been repealed, also made it compulsory for policewomen to seek the permission of their superiors before getting married.
A spokesman for the Police Service Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, declined comment on the matter.
Online readers said the law was discriminatory.
Heartbreak kid, said, “What if she decided never to marry and decides to get pregnant? What happens if an unmarried policeman impregnates a woman? This law is discriminatory.”
Theophilus, urged the policewoman to challenge the decision
I hope women’s groups challenge the legality of this action. The choice to marry or not is a personal choice. How come getting pregnant is a bigger offence than ‘Roger’ or killing of unarmed citizens? Would the same apply to a policeman who impregnates a lady he is not married to? This is outright hypocrisy,” another reader, Bosun Oladipo, wrote.
David Benjamin, wondered if the Inspector General of Police preferred that single policewomen “fornicate, get pregnant and thereafter commit abortions.”