The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has sued President Muhammadu Buhari and two others at the Federal High Court, Lagos, for elongating the tenure of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, by three months.
Other defendants in the suit are the Police Service Commission and Mohammed Adamu.
In the suit number FHC/L/CS/214/2021, the association seeks judicial determination of the constitutionality of the president’s extension of Adamu’s tenure as the IGP for three months after Adamu had on February 1, 2021, attained 35 years of service as a member of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
NBA wants the court to declare that the act of the first defendant (Buhari) in purporting to extend the tenure of the second defendant (Adamu) as IGP after his retirement from the service of the police force is in contravention of the provisions of Sections 7(3) and (6) and 18(8) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 and therefore unlawful, null and void.
NBA seeks the court to declare that the first defendant (Buhari) lacks the authority, vires and power to extend the tenure of the occupant of the office of the IGP.
The body wants the court to order the third defendant (Adamu) to vacate forthwith the office of the IGP and refund all salaries, allowances and benefits received from February 1, 2021, to the coffers of the Federal Government.
They also want the court to order a perpetual injunction restraining the first defendant (Buhari) either by himself or acting through any of his ministers, officers, servants or under any guise from further breach of the provisions of Section 215 (1) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended by extending the tenure of the occupant of the office of the IGP of Nigeria.
In a 15 paragraph affidavit in support of the originating summon sworn by Solomon Oho, the applicant said every citizen of Nigeria, particularly all lawyers, have interest in ensuring that Nigerians are governed in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria and that all governments, public authorities and constitutions in Nigeria operate within the confines and provisions of the constitution.
A statement by NBA signed by its President, Olumide Akpata, said the extension of the IGP’s tenure was an act of impunity and portends an existential threat to the survival of the country and her hard-won democracy.
“The NBA now more than ever is firmly committed to change this narrative,” the NBA said.
