The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has filed a suit to
challenge the tenure elongation of Mohammed Adamu, the inspector-general of
police (IGP).
Criticisms have trailed the decision of President Muhammadu
Buhari to extend the stay of the IGP who had in February clocked the mandatory
35 years in service and was expected to have been replaced.
The Public Interest Litigation Committee of the NBA, in a
suit filed on Thursday at a federal high court in Lagos, is seeking an order
asking Adamu to vacate office.
The lawyers argued that Adamu’s continuous stay in office is
in contravention of the provisions of section 215(1)(a) of the constitution.
The NBA sought an order “setting aside the purported
elongation of the tenure” of the IGP.
“An order directing the 3rd Defendant to vacate forthwith
the office of the Inspector General of Police and refund all salaries,
allowances and benefits received from February 1, 2021, (when he retired from
the Police Force) to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, the
suit read.
“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the 1st
Defendant either by himself and/or acting through any of his Ministers,
officers, servants and/or under any
guise further breach the provision of Section 215(1)(a) of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended by extending the tenure of
the occupant of the office of the Inspector General of Police of Nigeria.”
Commenting, Olumide Akpata, NBA president, said the suit was
filed in line with the association’s motto of promoting the rule of law.
“The NBA’s decision to take this extraordinary line of
action is underpinned by an urgent need, and a sacred duty, to reassert the
supremacy of the rule of law in the face of growing impunity and the seeming
reluctance of law officers in government to give proper counsel,” he said.
“The NBA’s position in the suit is that Mr Adamu ceased to
be a member of the Nigeria Police Force when he attained the milestone of
thirty-five years of service. Therefore, the President’s extension of Mr
Adamu’s tenure by three months, in the NBA’s respectful view, is
unconstitutional.”
Akpata added that the NBA will continue to condemn and
confront lawlessness from all quarters.
Some lawyers had earlier sued the president over the IGP’s
tenure elongation.
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