It’s against the law! Ozekhome, Adegboruwa bash Buhari over IGP’s tenure extension

The tenure extension of Adamu contravened the Nigeria Police act of 2020.

Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has said the extension of the tenure of Mohammed Adamu as Inspector General of Police is “arbitrary, whimsical and unconscionable”.

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, had on Thursday, extended the tenure of Adamu by three months after the latter’s service year and tenure expired on February 1, 2021.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, confirmed the development to state house correspondents, pointing out that the IGP’s tenure extension was necessary to give room for the proper selection of a successor.

The supposedly retired Adamu, who was appointed as IGP in 2019, had on Monday reached the mandatory 35 years in service and was expected to have been replaced by the president according to the dictates of the constitution.

In his reaction to the development, Ozekhome, one of Nigeria’s topmost legal panjandrums, described Buhari’s decision as “unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful, unconscionable, arbitrary, whimsical and capricious.”

The revered legal expert who noted this while featuring on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, added that the president usually engages in a fire-brigade approach to appoint members of his cabinet.

Ozekhome made a reference to how US President Joe Biden assembled his cabinet before the January 20th inauguration, pointed out that Buhari should have appointed a replacement for Adamu before the expiration of his tenure and service year.

“The president was wrong to have purportedly extended the tenure of Mr Adamu.

“Did he not see what just happened in America that we modeled our democracy after? Before Biden was sworn in on the 20th of January, he had already assembled his entire cabinet.

“A fire-brigade approach and doing the things that are unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful, unconscionable, arbitrary, whimsical and capricious are the present acts of Mr President,” he said.

He argued further that argued that the Nigeria police force has its own rules and regulations different from the civil service, adding that the tenure extension of Adamu contravened the Nigeria Police act of 2020.

“The Nigeria police force is in a class of its own, that is sui generis. What do you mean by sui generis? It means that it is in a class of its own that does not go according to other laws, like the civil service rule; just like election petitions are sui generis and governed by electoral acts and electoral rules of procedures, and not by the ordinary service procedural rule that we know in our court,” he said.

“Section 7, sub-section 6 of the Nigeria police act 2020, what does it say? In very emphatic and categorical words, it says that the inspector-general of police shall serve for four years. Has Adamu served for four years? No. Could he, therefore, continue in office?

“Why you go to section 18, sub-section 8 of the same Nigeria police act of 2020, it makes it clear, unambiguously, that the inspector-general of police shall retire from office when he would have served for 35 years, or he has attained the age of 65 years.”

He noted that Adamu has served in the force for 35 years “to the best of his ability”, adding that although “he may not have been the best inspector-general of police, I can score him definitely above average.”

READ ALSO: IGP Tenure: There’ll be constitutional crisis if Adamu stayed beyond 12 midnight – Adegboruwa

Similarly, another Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, faulted President Buhari over the extension of Adamu’s tenure as the nation’s police chief pointing out that when the tenure of an IGP expires on the basis of the mandatory 35 years of service, it cannot be extended.

“When the tenure of a serving IGP expires on the ground of completing the mandatory 35 years of service, he cannot be asked to continue in office beyond his mandatory tenure,” he said.

“An IGP who has served the mandatory years of service ceases to be a member of the Nigeria Police Force from the date of his completion of his service. In this case, Mr Adamu ceases to be a member of the NPF from February 2, 2021.

“Under and by virtue of section 215(1)(a) of the Constitution and section 7(3) of the Police Act, 2020, only a SERVING member of the Nigeria Police Force can be appointed as IGP. Mr Adamu having completed his mandatory years of service in February 2, 2021, he cannot be appointed as IGP, from outside the force.”

He argued further that Buhari lacks the power to “reabsorb a retired police officer” to the force under the pretext of “purported tenure extension,” adding that the country does not have an IGP recognised by law.

“The President lacks the power to reabsorb a retired police officer back into the NPF through a purported tenure extension, which is not contemplated by law,” he said.

“The President cannot appoint an IGP or extend the tenure of a retired IGP without the advice of the Nigeria Police Council, which in this case has not met to consider, let alone approve such tenure extension.

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria presently has no IGP properly so recognized by law,” Adegboruwa stated.

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