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By Cosmas Omegoh
Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, keeps dominating the nation’s media space lately. The newspapers nowadays are awash with screamers of his acts and other issues that affect him. He has continued to garner attention not because he has successfully routed the rampaging bandits mowing down the ordinary people in their unbelievable numbers across the country. Not because he is dealing with the horde of gun-wielding criminals marauding as Fulani herdsmen and their likes, mindlessly maiming, raping, and killing their victims – sometimes in the most bizarre manner – pillaging the land, taking their victims hostage, and collecting huge sums of money as ransom from their relatives before setting them free. Mr Adamu is not gaining attention for uplifting the morale of men under his watch or decisively fighting the endemic corruption the Nigeria Police Force is perennially accused of. Or improving the ever-souring relationship between the Force and the populace. Probably none of that. At least not much of those noble deeds anyone could recall and relish.
Rather, Mr Adamu is going into the news more for the controversy surrounding the elongation of his tenure as police chief.
Because of the wave of controversy welling all around him, his friends – and foes alike – find fuel and fodder to either praise or vilify him. He is often at the centre of many discourses.
Adamu was billed to pull out of the Force on February 1, 2021, having spent 35 mandatory years in service as the rules say. He was said to have been enlisted in the police on February 1, 1986, and worked for 35 years. He would then go home for good to observe his deserved rest and then make way for the younger generation of officers down the command chain to progress.
In the days leading to his scheduled departure on February 1, 2021, many eyes were on the ball. His family, friends, and kinsmen too, wanted him home probably to receive a blast after his long days of meritorious service to his fatherland. Some other folks wanted him out so that some new blood would be injected into the system to fight the worsening wave of insecurity unarguably rising out of proportion. But none of that happened!
When February 1 arrived, everyone was watching and waiting with bated breath to hear President Muhammadu Buhari announce the appointment of a new IGP as it is customary for him to do so – although some people have argued that he has the prerogative to act otherwise. Then hours graduated into days. There was no pronouncement coming from the president – either accepting Mr Adamu’s retirement or appointing his successor. This triggered a debate. Many began to haggle and heckle over the legality or otherwise of keeping Adamu still in command, with many declaring his elongated stay as illegal – something not recognised by the Nigerian constitution as amended.
Some people have been rummaging through Adamu’s list of achievements to see if there are outstanding things that warrant President Buhari to retain him in office.
His arch-critics easily point to his inability to tame his men with the SARS appellation, who inflicted colossal damage on Nigerians. A quick throwback showed that it all ended with the #EndSARS campaign which led to the massacre of innocent protesters at the Lekki Plaza in Lagos State. Many who survived that debacle are still bearing their pains and their scares.
While the uncertainty over Adamu’s status ruled, a source disclosed that Buhari had ordered the Police Service Commission (PSC) to look beyond the long list of candidates earlier presented to him by its chairman, Mr Musiliu Smith, thus raising questions whether he did not prepare for the replacement of Adamu until now.
Analysts are still contending that President Buhari’s action runs contrary to the Police Act, he signed which stipulates that the retirement age of police officers should be 60 years of age or after attaining 35 years in the service.
However, some sources hinted that President Buhari’s action was at the behest of some powerful northern emirs who wanted the tenure of the IGP elongated to November 9, 2021, when Adamu would attain 60. And while this was going on, some other powerful individuals, including northern traditional rulers were said to have intensified lobbying for the appointment of police deputy inspectors from their zones.
Of course, the unfolding drama gave lawyers a lot to chew. Many kept dusting their legal books for the relevant lines that support or reject the scenario before them.
Recall that activist Femi Falana had declared President Buhari’s failure to appoint a new IGP as unconstitutional. Then a certain Maxwell Okpara was said to have approached the court to compel President Buhari and the Police Service Commission to immediately name Mr Adamu’s successor.
He wanted the court to interpret what Section 215 of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020 say and whether Adamu would still “validly continue to function as the Inspector General of Police not being a serving member of the Nigeria Police Force as from midnight of February 1, 2021.”
He also wanted the court to determine whether Buhari’s failure to appoint a new IGP “does not constitute an abdication of his duties.”
He also prayed the court to restrain Mr Adamu “from further parading himself as the Inspector-General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or exercising any form of command over the Nigeria Police Force not being a serving police officer.” How far he would go is a different story.
While speculations had free rein as to what President Buhari would do next, Adamu was said to have continued with his routines, signaling that he had earlier been briefed about what was to come.
Then came February 5, 2021; it emerged that Mr Adamu’s tenure had been extended by three months. The extension was announced by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the move became necessary, to allow a robust and efficient process of appointing a new police boss.
“This is not unconnected to the desire of Mr President to, not only have a smooth handover, but to also ensure the right officer is appointed into that position. Mr President is extending by three months to allow him to get into the process of appointing a new one.”
He assured that the extension was not going to cause a vacuum, contending that the president has the constitutional rights to act in the way he did.
But many have argued that the president should have allowed Adamu to go as it appears he has exhausted his gunpowder and has nothing again to offer the demoralised Police Force that is still nursing the bruises of the EndSARS protesters.
While all that was underway, an online platform accused Mr Adamu of paying N2 billion bribe to secure his tenure extension. But, he, Adamu, vehemently refuted the accusation through a statement issued by the police spokesman, Mr Frank Mba, who described the accusation as “untrue, unfounded, libelous and defamatory,” noting that the extension was purely the prerogative of President Buhari. He announced his boss’ intention to sue the platform for damages.
It would be recalled that Adamu, before his elevation on January 15, 2019, in an acting capacity, was an Assistant Inspector General of Police; he was appointed by President Buhari as the 20th Inspector General of Police of Nigeria, replacing Ibrahim Idris.
Adamu was born on September 17, 1961; he is now 59 years old. He hails from Lafia in Nasarawa State. He worked his way up the rungs in various commands of the Nigeria Police, earning applause as a gentleman officer.
