Abuja-based lawyer and human rights activist, Maxwell Opara, has filed a lawsuit against President Bola Tinubu and Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, urging the Federal High Court in Abuja to prevent Egbetokun from continuing to serve as Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Opara contends that Egbetokun, having turned 60 on September 4, 2024, should no longer hold the office, as he has reached the mandatory retirement age.
In his suit, Opara also requested the court to rule that an appointment terminated by law cannot be reinstated retroactively by any subsequent legal amendment. No date has been set for the hearing of the case.
Responding to the legal action, the Nigeria Police Force, through a statement signed by its spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, clarified that President Bola Tinubu did not extend the IGP’s tenure. Rather, the president approved the correct application of the law governing the IGP’s office.
“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to various misleading reports concerning the tenure of the Inspector General of Police.
We wish to categorically state that what President Bola Tinubu approved for the IGP is not a tenure extension, but the proper application of the law,” Adejobi’s statement read.
Contrary to rumors circulating on social media, Adejobi emphasized that the IGP’s appointment, confirmed by the Police Council in November 2023, grants him a four-year tenure, as stipulated by the Constitution. “This letter, dated 3rd November 2023, clearly stated that the President approved a four-year tenure for the IGP in accordance with the provisions of Section 215(a) and Section 28(c) of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” the statement noted.
Adejobi further stressed that Egbetokun does not need to seek a tenure extension, as he has not yet exhausted the four years granted by his appointment.
He dismissed the ongoing rumors as the work of “pessimists and mischief-makers” attempting to discredit the IGP and spread false narratives for personal gain.
