….says ‘he’s no longer a police officer’
An Abuja-based lawyer, Maxwell Okpara, has asked a Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory to stop the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, from parading himself as the substantive head of the Nigeria Police Force.
Adamu, who was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, last Monday reached the mandatory 35 years in service, and was expected to have retired from service and replaced by the President.
But due to the President’s failure to appoint a replacement for the IGP, Okpara, in the suit, with number FHC/ABJ/CS/106/2021, is challenging Adamu’s stay in office as the police boss beyond February 1, 2021, when he should have retired service.
Listed as defendants in the suit are Adamu, Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami as well as the Police Council.
The lawyer, who claimed that the office of the IGP became vacant on February 1, said Buhari failed to appoint a new IGP to replace Adamu.
The court processes partly read, “That the second defendant though, no longer a serving police officer, continued to function as the Inspector-General of Police, sitting in the office of the Inspector-General of Police and adorning the official uniform of an Inspector-General of Police.
“Whether the failure of the president and the Nigeria Police Council to appoint an IG on February 1, 2021 does not constitute abdication of their duties under Section 215 of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020.”
Okpara asked for an order restraining Adamu from “parading himself as IG or exercising any form of command or control over the Nigeria Police Force not being a serving police officer”.
He also prayed for another order mandating the President and the Police Council to immediately appoint a new IGP in line with the provisions of Section 7 of the Police Act.
Adamu has continued to perform his duties as the IGP despite speculations about his retirement. On Tuesday, he was part of the government delegation that went to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to receive President Buhari, who was returning from Katsina.
