BREAKING: Buhari appoints Usman Alkali Baba as acting IGP

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Usman Alkali Baba as the acting inspector-general of police.

Maigari Dingyadi, minister of police affairs, communicated the president’s directive to state house correspondents at the presidential villa on Tuesday.

Alkali, who was a deputy inspector-general of police until his appointment, will replace Mohammed Adamu.

The president said Alkali’s appointment is with immediate effect.

Buhari had on February 4 extended the tenure of Adamu as the IGP for three months.

Adamu, who was appointed in 2019, had clocked the mandatory 35 years in service on February 1 and was expected to have been replaced by the president.

His tenure extension had elicited widespread criticism and a resultant lawsuit.

Maxwell Opara, a legal practitioner, had taken the IGP to court, contending that by virtue of section 215 of the Nigerian constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, he cannot continue to function as the IGP, having retired as a serving member of the force.

In his defence, the IGP had told the federal high court that the new Nigeria Police Act gave him a four-year tenure, which would only lapse in either 2023 or 2024.

Supporting Adamu’s position, President Buhari and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, had said the law permits the IGP to remain in office.