Appointment of new IGP did not follow due process — RULAAC

The reaction has begun to trail the appointment of Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, as the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC has described it as illegal.

Consequently, it has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of acting contrary to both the 1999 Constitution and the new Police Act 2020 which he signed into law, last year.

Executive Director, RULAAC, Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma, stated emphatically that the law did not empower the President to singlehandedly appoint or remove an IGP.

According to Nwagunma, “The procedure requires that the Police Council, comprising the President, the governor of each of the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, the chairman of the Police Service Commission and the sitting Inspector General of Police, would meet to consider the candidates and advice the President, who will then appoint one of them based on the advice of the Council. The President also needs to consult the Police Council to remove a sitting IGP.

“The law does not empower the President to singlehandedly appoint or remove. There is no contemplation of an acting IGP whose appointment will be confirmed by the Council of State. The council of state has no role in the appointment process.

“President Buhari is currently out of the country on medical tourism. When then did the police Council seat? The person appointed is not the most qualified among the potential candidates. The choice would probably have been different had the Council sat. The Minister of Police affairs who announced the purported appointment is not even a member of the Police Council.

“President Buhari does not appear to be willing to break his streak of illegalities, from the illegal extension of the tenure of a retired IGP to the abrupt removal of the IGP before the expiration of his illegal period of extension to the appointment of an acting IGP without recourse to the constitutional and statutory procedure.

“The purportedly appointed acting IGP surfers irredeemable legitimacy deficit. He cannot command authority and respect because his appointment is illegal. It cannot stand. The President must begin to lead by example. He must put an end to the subversion of the law. Democracy is protected by the rule of law”.

Fmr IGP Okiro advises newly appointed IGP

Meanwhile, former Inspector-General of Police, Chief Mike Okiro, has urged the newly appointed IGP, DIG Usman Alkali Baba, to put in his best to ensure that the state of insecurity in the country was reduced to its barest minimum.

He also admonished policemen not to relent in the discharge of their constitutional responsibility of protecting the lives and property of the citizenry, adding that they should make do with whatever was available to them to tackle insecurity.

Okiro in a telephone conversation with Vanguard’s Crime Editor, Mr Emma Nnadozie, described Tuesday’s change of guard at the Police High Command as a necessary move, noting that former IGP Adamu Mohammed had served his term as well as an extension of his term.

But he was quick to admonish the new IGP on the need to prove his worth before his appointment would be approved.

He said, “My advice to the new IGP is that he should do his job well because he has a duty to provide security for the lives and property of every Nigerian as enshrined in the Constitution. He is to ensure he protects these constitutional rights without any form of hindrance. I hope he puts in his best because if he did not, he will not be confirmed.

“He should ensure insecurity is reduced so that Nigerians will feel happy and those that are travelling on the road should not be looking behind”.

He also advised Nigerians not to leave the issue of security to the Police and other security agents alone. Rather, he enjoined them to make security their business. He said, “ everybody should control and play his own role in security. Nigerians should not leave that responsibility to the Police alone or any other security agencies. They should queue up and contribute their own quota to the security of themselves and their communities.

“I will also advise every policeman and policewoman not to allow their morals to go down, no matter the condition. They should serve their country with whatever is available until the government provides more”.