THERE are some things even the law is powerless to stop. One such issue is the renewed controversy over the tenure extension of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to October 2027. Omoyele Sowore, a rights activist, stoked the fire afresh by referring to Egbetokun on his X handle as an “illegal IGP.”
The fiery debate continued even after the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, affirmed that Egbetokun is a legal occupant of the IG’s office.
By the Public Service Rule, Egbetokun would have retired in September after attaining the age of 60.
All that changed when the National Assembly amended the Police Act 2004 in 2020 with the prompting of President Muhammadu Buhari. Section 7(6) of the Act approves a four-year tenure solely for the IG, overriding the PSR.
Usman Baba, appointed in April 2021, thus became the initial beneficiary of the elongation.
In this context, President Bola Tinubu acted within the law, but this is a bad law. The Buhari government and the parliament did a shoddy job to cover their flawed motives.
The law should consider an IG appointed at age 50 to 55. What will happen to him after four years?
Essentially, the law abnegates competence. In law enforcement, proficiency is a sine qua non to stay in office. With Nigeria in the throes of Islamic terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, industrial-scale oil theft and violent separatist agitations, the tenure of an IG should be based on competence, not a four-year term.
Second, the law is suspiciously faulty because it was enacted for the IG only. It is unfair to all the other police officers. Singling out the IG for tenure extension is patently discriminatory.
This will affect the morale of police officers, some of whom were retired by the Police Service Commission on Monday in line with the PSR.
Additionally, the act is divisive and will cause vicious scheming to become the IG, knowing that it is only the IG whose tenure can be elongated.
The law is good when it serves the interest of the majority. When the NASS amended the retirement age of judicial officers, it did not take care of the Chief Justice of Nigeria alone. It covered all the Justices of the Supreme Court.
Tinubu extended the age of medical workers to 65 on Wednesday and did not single out chief medical directors. So, the tenure elongation provision for the IG serves only one officer’s narrow interest. It should be reversed in the interest of the other officers.
Buhari caused the original damage to the system. Before the amendment to the Police Act, the former President elongated the tenure of the Service Chiefs unnecessarily. Hameed Ali, the immediate past Comptroller-General of Customs was in office throughout Buhari’s two-term tenure.
Tinubu has cemented the farce. This is one hollow precedent after another.
The wisdom behind the tenure extension for Egbetokun falls flat in the face of the raging insecurity under his watch. The Institute for Security Studies lists Nigeria as the “biggest illicit firearms market,” accounting for 70 per cent of the 500 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa.
In October, the chairman of the Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Sharifu Kamarawa, said bandits took over some territories, installing traditional rulers, judges, and tax collectors in the LG.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, lamented in October that some soldiers and police officers were selling weapons to bandits.
The 2024 Global Terrorism Index and the Fragile State Index 2024 rate Nigeria eighth out of 163 countries and 15th out of 179 countries respectively.
The situation demands high performance instead of tenure elongation to serve narrow political and primordial interests.
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