Court Removes Alkali-Baba as IG, says his stay in office illegal
A Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has declared that the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, is not entitled to the current seat he is occupying.
Justice Fatun Riman made the pronouncement, pointing out that his stay in office is against the provisions of the Police Act, 2020.
The IGP, Alkali-Baba, clocked 60 years on March 1, 2023, which is the compulsory year for his retirement.
According to Justice Riman, the Police IG’s stay is “unlawful and unconstitutional, and therefore, an illegal occupier of the IGP’s office”.
The court ruled in its judgment in a suit marked FHC/AKW/CS/58/2023, filed by Okechukwu Nwafor, a taxpayer.
According to the judgment, the court held that only an officer within the listed rank, with four years in service, can be appointed as IG of Police, not one with less than four years.
President Buhari, in January, this year, extended the tenure of the Inspector General of Police.
Although the judgment was delivered on Friday, May 19, 2023, a certified copy of the judgment was released on Saturday, May 27, 2023.
The plaintiffs in the suit dragged the President, Major General, (retd.), Muhammadu Buhari, the IGP, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the Nigeria Police Council before the court, seeking an order to stop Aljali-Baba from continuing in office as his tenure has expired.
In his judgment, after hearing the Counsel on the matter, Justice Riman explained, “It is important to observe that the Inspector-General of Police is a public servant and by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the staff of the Nigeria Police Force, an authority established from the Federation by Section 214 (1) of the Constitution and in the subject of the Federal Public Rules 299 (PSR) thereof, which provides for the compulsory retirement of all grades of public service officers at the age of 60 or 35 years of service, whichever comes first.
“I also observe that despite the prerogative power of the President, he is limited to the provisions of the Constitution. The Inspector General of Police retirement is a statutory and constitutional issue and no other law of the land can change the ground norm,” the Justice ruled.
