The president has power to extend the tenure of a retiring Inspector General of Police (IGP), a federal high court in Abuja has ruled.
A lawyer, Maxwell Opara, had taken the president and IGP to court over President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to extend the tenure of the former IGP Mohammed Adamu’s tenure by three months after he reached the mandatory retirement service year of 35.
The judge, Ahmed Mohammed, said that since the constitution and the police act empower the president to appoint an IGP, he could extend the tenure of a retiring IGP before concluding the required consultation with the police council and other processes required for the appointment of a substantive replacement.
The judge also observed that the constitution and the police act are silent on the issue of whether or not the president could extend the tenure of a retired IGP.