Abuja-based lawyer Maxwell Okpara is taking the Federal Government to the Abuja High Court in the Federal Capital City (FCT). Okpara is challenging the purported extension of the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
The suit filed by Maxwell Okpara is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/342/2024 and dated September 9. The defendants in the suit are Egbetokun, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Police Council, President Bola Tinubu, and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
The suit includes an 18-paragraph affidavit filed on behalf of Okpara by one Pastor Nnenna Opara. It challenges the legality of the alleged tenure elongation granted to the IGP under the amended Police Act.
Okpara asserts that the IGP cannot lawfully remain in office after reaching the age of 60 on September 4, 2024. According to public service rules, upon reaching this age, he should be compulsorily retired. Egbetokun was born on September 4, 1964, and as of 2024, he reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, as per the Public Service rule.
Egbetokun was appointed IGP in July 2023 and before his 60th birthday, there were rumors that President Tinubu had extended his tenure. Okpara argues that as stated in Section 9 of Chapter 2 of the Public Service Rules 2023, the age for compulsory retirement of Egbetokun as a public servant is upon reaching the age of 60 or having served 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier.
In the lawsuit, Okpara requests the court to issue an injunction restraining the IGP from continuing to act as the Inspector General of Police of the Nigeria Police Force. However, the Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, has refuted the speculations of tenure elongation. He explained that what the President approved was not an extension of the IGP’s tenure, but the proper application of the law governing the tenure of the office of the IGP.
