Ade Adesomoju, Premiumtimes
A lawyer has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop Mohammed Adamu from continuing to functioning as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) after attaining the maximum 35 years of service on February 1.
Maxwell Okpara, in his suit filed on Wednesday, wants the court to compel President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigeria Police Council (NPC) to immediately name Mr Adamu’s replacement.
The President, Mr Adamu, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Nigeria Police Council (NPC) are the four defendants sued by the plaintiff in the suit challenging the validity of Mr Adamu remaining in office after February 1.
Mr Adamu, 59, who joined the police force on February 1, 1986, has remained in office after he attained the maximum service period of 35 years.
Suit
Mr Okpara asked the court to determine if, by virtue of section 215 of the Nigerian Constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, Mr Adamu could “validly continue to function as the Inspector General of Police not being a serving member of the Nigeria Police Force as from midnight of February 1, 2021.”
Citing the same constitutional and statutory provisions, Mr Okpara also asked the court to determine if “the failure” of President Buhari and the NPC to appoint the new IGP since February 1 “does not constitute abdication of their duties.”
In his prayers, he asked the court to declare that Mr Adamu “cannot lawfully continue to function as the Inspector-General of Police” and that “all actions” taken by him thereafter “are illegal, null, void and constitute a breach of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigeria Police Act”.
The plaintiff also asked the court to declare Mr Buhari and the NPC guilty of “abdication of their duties” by their failure to appoint a new IGP since February 1.
He also asked for an order restraining Mr Adamu “from further parading himself as the Inspector-General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or exercising any form of command over the Nigeria Police Force not being a serving police officer.”
