President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation(AGF), Abubakar Malami, on Wednesday, March 17, opined that the President is empowered by the constitution to retain Mohammed Adamu as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) beyond the official tenure.
This stance by the duo was contained in their joint response to a suit instituted by a lawyer, Maxwell Opara.
Opara had challenged the president’s decision to extend Adamu’s stay as the IGP for another three months from Monday, February 1, when he ordinarily should have retired.
In the written submission filed for them by a lawyer in the AGF’s office, Maimuna Shiru, Buhari and Malami argued that Adamu is a serving police officer and can benefit from the president’s extension of his tenure in office.
Furthermore, the President’s counsel stated that the four years tenure provided for the IGP in Section 7(6) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, as it applies to his client, would end either in 2023 or 2024.
“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,” Shiru noted.
The IGP had also adopted the same position earlier when his lawyer began defence of the case against him.
IGP Adamu argued through his lawyer, in objection to the suit, that his tenure did not lapsed on Monday, February 1.
