A federal high court sitting in Awka has declared that the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, is an illegal occupant of the office he is presently holding.
Justice Fatun Riman, therefore declared Alkali’s appointment and continued stay in office as “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
The court made the order in its judgment in a suit marked FHC/AKW/CS/58/2023, filed by Okechukwu Nwafor, a tax payer.
While ordering Alkali Baba to stop parading himself as the Inspector-General of Police, the court ordered the President to convene a meeting of the Nigeria Police Council to appoint a new Inspector General of Police.
Justice Riman observed that the IGP being a public servant and by virtue of the fact that he is a member of staff of the Nigeria Police Force, an authority established from the Federation by Section 214 (1) of the Constitution and in 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.
The court noted that going by Section 7 (3) of the Police Act, 2020, Usman Baba Alkali’s tenure as Inspector General of Police should have come to an end by March 1, 2023, when he was 60 years old, or two weeks later, which marked 35 years he entered in the Nigeria Police Force.
Defendants in the suit are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Usman Alkali Baba, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and Nigeria Police Council.
