Spokesperson of the police in Ekiti Sunday Abutu says it is embarrassing for an unmarried policewoman to get married, defending the Command’s decision to fire Olajide Omolola for getting pregnant out of wedlock.
Ms Olajide, a corporal serving at Iye Divisional Police Headquarters in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti, was dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force last week for breaching Section 127 of the Police Act and Regulation which forbids a policewoman from getting pregnant before marriage in the Force.
Section 127 of the Act reads: “An unmarried woman police officer who becomes pregnant shall be discharged from the Force and shall not be re-enlisted except with the approval of the Inspector-General.”
The incident has drawn widespread criticism of the law, with many describing it as draconian in a modern age.
However, Mr Abutu told Vanguard on Thursday that Olajide who was enlisted in April 2020 embarrassed the police with the act.
“It is very much there in the Police Act and anyone that is coming in especially a woman when she could get pregnant after some years but in her own case she joined less than a year ago and she got pregnant without a husband. It is against the Police Act,” he said.
“People bringing emotions and personal opinion to it should not be the case. In your own establishment, you have your own rules and regulations and no matter how small or big the rule is, nobody should go against it or take it for granted.
“Everyone in the Force knows that you must introduce someone as your husband; that is it. So getting pregnant without doing this is an embarrassment to the Force for a woman police to get pregnant without a husband. There is nothing too harsh in the punishment.”
Following outcry, Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu has ordered investigation into the incident.
