By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, fixed April 16 to deliver judgement in the suit challenging the legality of the three-month tenure extension which President Muhammadu Buhari granted to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed adjourned the matter for judgement, after all the parties argued and adopted their final written addresses.
The defendants in the suit which was brought before the court by a constitutional lawyer, Maxwell Opara, are President Buhari, IGP Adamu, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Nigeria Police Council.
The plaintiff, through his counsel, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezekiel, urged the court to declare the continued stay of Adamu as IGP, as illegal and unconstitutional, while the defendants prayed the court to dismiss the suit for want of merit.
Mr. E. V. Elodimuo who announced appearance for President Buhari, the AGF and the Nigeria Police Council, argued that the decision to retain Adamu as the IGP was not in breach of either the 1999 Constitution, as amended, or the Police Act.
He urged the court to uphold the preliminary objection raised by the 1st, 3rd and 4th defendants against the suit. He argued that President Buhari, who is the 1st defendant, maintained that he retained Adamu in office as the IGP, in exercise of the executive power that was conferred on him by the Constitution.
According to him, the Constitution empowered him to appoint a serving Police Officer as the IGP, in consultation with Police Council, adding that neither the Council nor the Police Service Commission, have disclosed that Adamu is no longer a serving police officer.
Similarly, Adamu’s counsel, Alex Iziyon, (SAN), while urging the court to dismiss the suit, argued that going by Section 136 of the Nigerian Police Act, his client, could remain in office as the IGP till 2024.
The IGP, who attained the maximum 35 years in service on February 1, but got a three-month extension of his tenure by President Buhari on February 3, argued that his tenure never elapsed.
He contended that the new Nigeria Police Act gave him a four-year tenure which would only expire in either 2023 or 2024.
According to him, his tenure will lapse in 2023 if counted from 2019 when he was appointed as the IGP, or 2024, if counted from 2020 when the new Nigeria Police Act came into force. He, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss the suit.