AN Abuja Federal High Court Presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed on Friday held that the President of Nigeria has the power to extend the tenure of a retiring Inspector General of Police (IGP) pending the completion of the process for the appointment of a substantive successor.
Justice Mohammed delivered the judgment in a suit filed in February by Mr Maxwell Okpara, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s extension of the tenure of the immediate-past IGP, Mohammed Adamu, by three months.
The immediate-past IGP was due for retirement on February 1, 2021, the date he attained the maximum 35 years in service.
Mr Okpara had argued in his suit filed on February 3, 2021 that by virtue of section 215 of the Nigerian Constitution, and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, the former IGP could not validly continue to function as the IGP having retired as a police officer from midnight of February 1, 2021.
But Justice Mohammed while noting that both the Nigerian constitution and the Police Act are silent on whether or not the president can extend the tenure of a retired IGP, held that since the Nigerian President is empowered by the Nigerian constitution and the Police Act to appoint an IGP, he can, by implication, extend the tenure of a retiring IGP before concluding the required consultation with the Police Council and other processes required for the appointment of a substantive replacement.
