The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has questioned the legal propriety which enables the Nigeria Police Force to issue Central Motor Information System (CMRIS) Certificates to vehicle owners.
The NBA in a letter addressed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), by its Section on Public Interest (NBA-SPIDEL), stressed that there is nowhere in any of the laws of the country that authorise the Nigeria Police has any to issue car licenses or certificates of any nature to vehicle owners after due registration of vehicles in the appropriate office.
The NBA-SPIDEL in the letter signed by John Aikpokpo-Martins and Funmi Adeogun, chairman and Secretary respectively, stressed that any such certificate being issued by the Nigeria Police Force without any legal backing is outright illegal, null, and void and therefore of no consequence.
The NBA noted that vehicle owners are mandated to register and obtain a Central Motor Information System (CMRIS) Certificate from the Nigeria Police Force for a cost of not less than six thousand naira.
It further said that it has it on good authority that the men of the Nigeria Police have since started enforcing compliance wherein purported defaulters have been made to part with their hard-earned monies in thousands of Naira.
The NBA said that in the light of the developments, the fact that the duty of the Nigeria Police in protecting the citizens and enforcing the law does not extend to collecting monies and/or issuing certificates to vehicle owners.
The letter further states; “Regrettably, the men of the Nigeria Police Force have since taken advantage of the ignorance of unsuspecting Nigerians by extorting large sums of money from them for failure to present the CMRIS certificate on demand during road search.
“This illegality has to stop immediately. Consequently, the NBA-SPIDEL states that these acts of illegality must not continue unabated,” it said.
The NBA therefore unequivocally demanded that the Nigeria Police immediately stop the issuance and/or demand for the Central Motor Information System (CMRIS) Certificate.
It therefore urged the IGP to as a matter of urgency, issue a directive immediately stopping the issuance of/demand for the CMRIS certificates nationwide.
NBA-SPIDEL also demanded of the IGP that the registration website and every other physical registration centres be shut down, and every money already collected from Nigerians be refunded to them within three days of the receipt of this notice.
The NBA-SPIDEL warned that failure, neglect or refusal to comply with the lawful demand within seven days of the receipt of this letter will compel it to seek appropriate sanctions in court against the office of the IGP and the Nigeria Police Force.
