Minister of Police Affairs Maigari Dingyadi, says the three-month tenure extension granted to outgoing Inspector-General of Police Muhammad Adamu was terminated following completion of selection process for a new I-G.<\/p>\n\n\n
Recall that three weeks ago, President Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, declared support for the argument that the law permits the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to remain in office till 2023 or 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n
They contended that the President is allowed by law to extend the IGP\u2019s tenure as he wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n
Dingyadi has earlier on Tuesday announced the appointment of\u00a0Deputy\u00a0 Inspector- General of Police (DIG) Usman Baba as Acting Inspector-General of Police..
The appointment of Usman was with immediate effect.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buhari had on Feb. 4 extended the tenure of Adamu as the IGP for three months.
Adamu, however, spent two months and three days of the extended period.
Reacting to why the president did not allow the outgoing I-G to last the three months of his extension, the\u00a0minister:
\u201cThe president is aware of this and you cannot take away that responsibility\u00a0from him; he\u2019s the one who is in charge of appointing or extending tenures.
\u201dHe has now decided to appoint a new person. So, please, allow him that responsibility and we cannot do anything about it,\u201d he said.
Dingyadi explained that the appointment of the acting I-G followed a thorough check of a shortlist of suitably qualified police officers from the rank of DIGs and AIGs.
He said all the shortlisted candidates were police\u00a0officers, eligible for appointment as I-G, in line with Section 7, Sub-section 2 of the Nigeria Police Act (2020).
\u201dThe tenure of the I-G Mohammed Adamu, which ended on February 1,\u00a02021, was extended by the president to enable a detailed process of appointing a new I-G, in line with Section 15 (A) of the\u00a01999 Constitution.
\u201dAfter a thorough check of a shortlist of suitably qualified police\u00a0officers from the rank of DIGs and AIGs, who are eligible police\u00a0officers, eligible for appointment as I-G, in line with Section 7, Sub-section 2 of the Nigeria Police Act (2020).
\u201dAnd having regards to seniority, professionalism, record of service and competence, the president has approved the appointment of an acting I-G, in the person of Usman Alkali Baba, with immediate effect.
\u201dThese changes are in line with the determination of the president to rejig the security architecture and to ensure that the security challenges bedeviling the nation are brought to an end.
\u201dThe president has, therefore, charged the new appointee to rise to the challenge to ensure policing reform policy of this administration are fully prioritised and implemented to enable the police to perform most effectively for the peace and security of lives and property of all Nigerians,\u201d he said.
The\u00a0minister\u00a0quoted the president as thanking the outgoing I-G, Mohammed Adamu, for his professionalism and dedication to duty during the period of his tenure.
\u201dHe wished him all the best in his future endeavours\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n
Adamu\u00a0had canvassed the argument that he could stay until 2024 to counter a suit\u00a0filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the extension of his tenure by three months as from February 1. Minister of Police Affairs Maigari Dingyadi, says the three-month tenure extension granted to outgoing Inspector-General of Police Muhammad Adamu was terminated following completion of selection process for a new I-G. Recall that three weeks ago, President Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, declared support for the argument that the law permits the Inspector-General of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[2155,31,2553],"class_list":["post-32506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","category-news","tag-adamu","tag-buhari","tag-dingyadi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
President Buhari and the AGF\u2019s position on the suit, adopting in full Mr Adamu\u2019s earlier argument on the crucial issue of how long an IGP can remain in office, is contained in their joint reply filed Monday.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained the joint reply of the President and the AGF shortly after the suit had another mention in court on Tuesday.
The plaintiff, Maxwell Opara, an Abuja-based lawyer, had sued the President, Mr Adamu, the AGF, and the\u00a0Nigeria Police Council\u00a0(NPC) as the 1st to the 4th defendants in the suit which was instituted on February 3.
It remains the NPC among the four defendants that has yet to reply the suit.
As of Tuesday, Mr Adamu, has spent half of the three months extended tenure which was announced on February 4.
\u2018Why Adamu can remain IGP till 2023 or 2024\u2019
Mr Adamu had, through his lead counsel, Alex Izinyon, a senior lawyer, argued essentially in his response filed on March 8, that his tenure never lapsed on February 1 as argued by the plaintiff.
Arguing on the issue of whether Mr Adamu, who was appointed the IGP on January 15, 2019, is prevented from staying in office beyond February 1, 2021, Mr Izinyon contended that the tenure of the IGP is not governed by the general provisions applicable to the rest of the police force.
The senior lawyer said by virtue of the relevant laws, the office of the IGP is \u201cquasi-political\u201d and \u201cis conferred with a special status\u201d and \u201cdistinct from other officers of the Nigeria Police Force.\u201d
He said the provision of \u201csection 18(8) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020 to the effect that \u2018Every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for a period of 35 years or until he attains the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier,\u2019 is with due respect, inapplicable to the office of the Inspector General of Police in the circumstance.\u201d
He said the IGP upon appointment \u201cis only accountable to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigeria Police Council and this fact we submit makes his office a quasi-political office with a tenure of four (4) years pursuant to Section 7(6) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020.\u201d
According to him, by the combined effect of Sections 215 and 216 of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, Mr Adamu \u201ccan validly function as the Inspector General of Police atter midnight of February 1, 2021 in so far as he was a serving member of the Nigeria Police Force during the period of his appointment.\u201d
He said the four years tenure of his client stipulated under section 7(6) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, would end either in 2023 or 2024.
\u201cTherefore, if the 2nd defendant\u2019s tenure in office is calculated from January 15, 2019 when he was appointed into the office of the Inspector General of Police, his tenure lapse in 2023.
\u201cHowever, if his tenure in office is calculated from 2020 when the Nigeria Police Act, 2020 came into force. his tenure in office ends in 2024,\u201d Mr Izinyon stated.
Buhari, AGF adopt IGP\u2019s argument
In their joint response to the suit, the President and Mr Malami said they totally adopted these points made by Mr Izinyon in his paragraphs 1.18 to 1.49 of his written address in opposition to Mr Opara\u2019s suit.
Their joint response filed on their behalf by a lawyer in the AGF\u2019s office, Maimuna Shiru, stated that they would be relying on the argument by the IGP\u2019s lawyer in answering the question of \u201cWhether the President is empowered to extend the tenure of the Inspector General of Police.\u201d
\u201cMy Lord on the above issue, it is our position that we will be relying and aligning with the argument canvassed by the 2nd defendant\u2019s (IGP\u2019s) counsel as their Issue Two in paragraphs 1.18 to 1.49 of their written address and we shall be adopting same as ours and urge this honourable court to uphold our argument and dismiss the plaintiff\u2019s case as same is frivolous,\u201d their written address read in part.
In the affidavit filed in support of the suit, they stated that the Nigerian Constitution conferred the President with executive power to \u201cappoint serving police officer as the Inspector-General of Police in consultation with Police Council.\u201d
They said neither the Nigeria Police Council or the Police Service Commission, both bodies with measures of regulatory controls over disciplinary, recruitment and appointments in the police force, \u201chave not disclosed any contrary fact that the 2nd defendant is not a serving police officer.\u201d
\u2018Adamu\u2019s remains serving police officer\u2019
Arguing another issue in their written address, the President and the AGF argued also that the plaintiff \u201chas failed to discharge the legal burden of proof that the 2nd defendant is not a serving police officer for the purposes of extension of his tenure in office.\u201d
The affidavit added, \u201cThat question if the 2nd defendant is still a serving police officer is a question of fact.
\u201cThat it is a fact that the Nigeria Police Act 2020 is a subsidiary legislation passed by the National Assembly.
\u201cThat it is a fact that the appointment of an Inspector-General of Police is by the Constitution conferred on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.\u201d
In their concluding comment in their written address, they urged the court \u201cto dismiss this suit and uphold our argument in support of the view that the case of the plaintiff is frivolous, unmeritorious and undeserving of the time of this honourable court\u2019s attention.\u201d
They also urged the court to award \u201cheavy cost\u201d cost against the plaintiff.
Hearing, adjournment
The suit had another mention before the judge, Ahmed Mohammed, on Tuesday.
Although the plaintiff was physically present, his lawyer, Ezekiel Ugochukwu, presented his case on his behalf.
The President and the AGF were represented by Ekene Elodimuo, while Mr Adamu was represented by Mr Izinyon.
Mr Adamu had attained the maximum 35 years in service on February 1, but President Buhari, through the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi,\u00a0announced the three-month extension\u00a0of Mr Adamu\u2019s tenure on February 4.
PREMIUM TIMES reported\u00a0that Mr Opara, an Abuja-based lawyer, who had expected Mr Adamu to vacate office on February 1, filed his suit on February 3 to challenge the tenure extension.
Mr Opara contended in his suit that by virtue of section 215 of the Nigerian Constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, Mr Adamu could not validly continue to function as the IGP having retired as a police officer as from midnight of February 1, 2021.
He prayed for, among others, an order directing Mr Adamu to stop functioning as the IGP.
He asked the court to hold that the failure of Mr Buhari and the NPC to name a new IGP on February 1, when Mr Adamu was said to have completed his tenure, amounted to abdication of duty.
He also urged the court to compel President Buhari and the NPC to immediately appoint a new IGP.
\u25aa\ufe0e Additional reports by NAN<\/strong> and Premium Times <\/strong>
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