The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has filed a suit to challenge the extension of the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The suit was filed against Buhari, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Police Service Commission, and Adamu.
“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,” NBA president Olumide Akpata said in a statement.
“Therefore, the President’s extension of Mr Adamu’s tenure by three months, in the NBA’s respectful view, is unconstitutional.”
Adamu was due to retire from the police on February 1 having spent a maximum of 35 years in service.
The extension to his tenure was announced three days after his supposed retiring date by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Dingyadi said the extension was necessary to give room for the proper selection of a successor.
In the suit, the NBA sought the judicial determination of the constitutionality of the extension of Adamu’s tenure as the Inspector-General of Police for three months.
The association said the extension of the IGP”s tenure by three months is unconstitutional.
“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,” NBA said.
“In the grand scheme of things, the NBA is wary that the more government officials casually violate the law, the harder it would become to expect citizens to be compliant.”
The association also noted that “citizens take their cues from their leaders and public office holders who flout the laws of the country that they are meant to uphold will discover sooner or later that their examples will be followed by those that they purport to govern.”
NBA said it is determined to put an end to the ubiquity of acts of impunity, especially by those in high public offices, portends an existential threat to the survival of Nigeria and her “hard-won democracy.”
“As the outcome of the Suit is awaited, the NBA will continue to condemn and confront lawlessness in any form and from all quarters,” NBA said.
