PEACE CORPS: With Buhari’s assent to bill still pending, police arrest 34 officials in Lagos

With the Nigerian Peace Corps bill recently passed by the National Assembly still awaiting presidential assent to become law, the Lagos State police command, on Friday said it had arrested 34 officials of the Peace Corps para-military organization for operating as an illegal body.

The spokesman of the command, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, announced the arrest to newsmen, stating that all the arrested officials would be charged to a mobile court on Saturday.

“The command has arrested 34 members of the Peace Corp. “The organization is illegal, therefore the command would charge the suspects to a mobile court tomorrow”, he said.

Read also: Lagos bans trucks from its roads over incessant gridlock

This will not be the first time that the police will be arresting officials of the corps citing lack of legal backing to exist.

This development is coming about two months after the Senate, under controversial circumstances, passed a bill to make the Nigerian Peace Corps a legally recognized para-military agency in the country.

The Senate had adopted the conference report on the bill to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps after it was so advised by its committee on judiciary, human rights and legal matters.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives had separately passed the bill in 2016, but after the harmonisation of the two separate bills, the Senate had rejected components of the harmonised version before eventually getting its approval.

 

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