NBA drags Buhari to court over extension of IGP’s tenure

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.