Lawyer asks court to stop Adamu operating as IGP – Newstrends
Connect with us

News

Lawyer asks court to stop Adamu operating as IGP

Published

on

An Abuja-based lawyer, Maxwell Okpara, has approached the Abuja Federal High Court to ask for an order to prevent Mohammed Adamu from parading himself as Inspector General of Police.

In a suit, marked FHC / ABJ / CS / 106/2021, the plaintiff prayed the court to declare as illegal, “all actions Adamu took as head of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), after February 1, 2021.”

He urged the court to prevent Adamu from exercising any form of command over the NPF, insisting that his tenure as the IGP, after the mandatory retirement service age of 35, is illegal and unconstitutional.

Other defendants in the suit are President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, as well as the Nigerian Police Council.

In a 10-paragraph affidavit, the plaintiff argued that Adamu ceased being a police officer as of midnight of February 1, 2021, when he reached the retirement age of 35, under the Police Law.

He asked the court to determine whether the failure of President Buhari and the Nigerian Police Council to appoint another IGP, after the post became vacant due to Adamu’s retirement, did not constitute an abdication of their duties.

The plaintiff stated, “That the second defendant, although he was no longer a serving police officer, continued to function as the inspector general of police, sitting in the office of the inspector general of police and wearing the official uniform of an inspector general of police.”

He said the defendants would continue to act in violation of the Nigerian Constitution and police law, except that the court intervened.

He, among other things, prayed the court to determine whether, “under the provisions of sections 215 and 216 of the Constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, Adamu can continue to function validly as an IGP, without being a service member of the Nigerian police after midnight February 1, 2021.

“Furthermore, If the failure of the President and the Nigerian Police Council to appoint an IG on February 1, 2021 does not constitute an abdication of their duties under Section 215 of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020.”

The plaintiff said that “if the questions are answered in the affirmative, the court should declare that, by law, Adamu could no longer legally continue to function as an IGP as of midnight on February 1, 2021, and that all actions it took thereafter were illegal, null and void; and a violation of the Constitution and the Police Law.”

He asked the court for an order prohibiting Adamu from “posing as an IG or exercising any form of command or control over the Nigerian Police without being a serving police officer.”

The plaintiff is also seeking an order compelling President Buhari to immediately appoint a new IGP in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of the police law.

No date, however, has been fixed for hearing of the case.

News

Under-pressure AIG Okolo says state police comment personal opinion, not IGP’s

Published

on

Under-pressure AIG Okolo says state police comment personal opinion, not IGP’s

Inspector-General of Police in charge of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) at the Force Headquarters, Benjamin Okolo, may have been under pressure for saying Nigeria is not ripe for state police.

Since he represented the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, at a forum on Monday with former Nigeria’s presidents and leaders of thoughts, the statement was simply attributed to the IGP.

It was at a national dialogue on state police organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja.

Okolo however on Tuesday retracted the comment, saying he was not directed by IGP Egbetokun to disagree with the position of former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, and the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on the issue of state police at the forum.

Okolo had also proposed that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) be merged to become a department under the police.

Newstrends had quoted Okolo as saying at the Monday forum, “It is the submission of the leadership of the Nigeria police force that Nigeria is yet to mature and ready for the establishment of state-controlled police.

“In view of this, the police leadership rather is recommending the following instead of creating state police.

“First, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety to form a department under the Nigeria police.”

But in a U-turn, Okolo, at a press briefing at the Force Headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday, said he only made the comment in his personal capacity to stimulate the discourse, and not the official position of the IGP and the police force.

He said, “My expressions on state police at the session held at Abuja Continental Hotel on 22nd April, 2024 are my personal opinion to stimulate the discourse.

“They are not the views of the Inspector-General of Police or the Nigeria Police Force.”

Continue Reading

News

Shun politicking, FG tells new 17 Chargé D’affaires, Consuls General

Published

on

Shun politicking, FG tells new 17 Chargé D’affaires, Consuls General

The Federal Government has advised newly  appointed five new Chargé D’affaires and 12 Consuls General to the nation’s mission in other countries to shun politicking and focus strictly on their job.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, gave the charge while unveiling the new appointees on Tuesday.

He also charged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria.

A statement by Alkasim Abdulkadir, the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, gave these details.
While asserting that they were pivotal to the economic drive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Tuggar further stressed that as seasoned career diplomats, they should recommit themselves to their calling of diplomacy for the collective interest and development of Nigeria.
Reacting on behalf of the new appointees, the just appointed Consul General for the Consulate in New York, Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, reiterated the commitment of his colleagues to uphold the ethos of the profession and pledged to bring the much-needed investments to the country.

He thanked President Bola Tinubu and the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the confidence reposed in them.
The new appointees are to resume immediately, the statement added.

FULL LIST:

Chargé D’affaires

Amb. Saidu Mohammed DODO, Damascus, Syria

Amb. Patrick Imoudu, IMOLOGHOME Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea

Amb. Francisca Kemi OMAYULI

Singapore, Singapore

Amb. Babagana AHMADU

Bangui, Central African Republic

Amb. Mohammed MOHAMMED

Tripoli, Libya.

 

Consul General Conuslate

Amb. Auwalu Jega NAMADINA

Atlanta, USA

 

Amb. Nnamdi Okechukwu NZE

Bata, Equatorial Guinea

 

Amb. Francis Ntui ENYA

Douala, Cameroon

 

Amb. Gbadebo AFOLABI

Shanghai, China

 

Amb. Oludare Ezekiel FOLOWOSELE

Hong Kong, China

 

Amb. Abubakar JIDDA

New York, USA

 

Amb. Yakubu Audu DADU

Frankfurt, Germany

 

Amb. Taofik Obasanjo Coker

Buea, Cameroon

 

Amb. George Collins ONWUEKWE

Guangzhou, China

 

Amb. Umar Ibrahim BASHIR

Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Amb. Zayyan IBRAHIM

Dubai, UAE

 

Amb. Muazam Ibrahim Jibrin NAYAYA

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Continue Reading

News

Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC

Published

on

Former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello and EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede

Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC

The former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, refuted allegations that he disregarded an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to the EFCC, Bello was summoned for interrogation on January 27 this year but failed to appear, leading to a declaration of him as a fugitive after an unsuccessful attempt to apprehend him at his Abuja residence.

In response to this claim, Bello’s media office issued a statement on Tuesday, challenging the accusations and urging the anti-graft agency to produce a copy of the invitation letter.

READ ALSO:

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a publication/press statement with the above title, issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, 22nd April, 2024, and signed by Wilson Uwujaren, its Acting Director of Public Affairs.

“In the said statement, which the Commission carefully circulated widely as usual, Mr. Uwujaren, who we have to believe is not a lawyer, continues the EFCC’s ongoing unconscionable lies against the former Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Yahaya Bello, CON, by labelling him as a fugitive from justice in order to disingenuously justify their established and willful pattern of defying lawful court orders.

“Contrary to Mr. Uwujaren’s claims, official records and court documents relating to their hounding of Alhaji Yahaya Bello establish a clear timeline of events. These documents are endorsed with dates and times of filing and payments, which are endorsed on court processes – all of which testify to the true sequence of events.”

The statement, signed by Ohiare Michael from Bello’s media office, dismissed the EFCC’s assertions and accused the agency of resorting to intimidation and harassment. It emphasized that while Bello respects the rule of law, he is not afraid of the EFCC.

Produce copy of invitation to me, Bello challenges EFCC

Continue Reading

Trending

Skip to content