Odinkalu and Ozekhome fault appointment of new IGP, say is illegal
By Kalu Nwokoro Idika
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Prof. Chidi Odinkalu Mike Ozekhome (SAN) have kicked against the appointment of Usman Alkali Baba as the new Inspector General of Police, adding that his appointment is illegal
Alkali was appointed yesterday to replace the former IGP, Mohammed Adamu by the Police Affairs Minister while on a tour to quantify the level of damage done by the gunmen that attacked police headquarters and correctional facility in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
The acting IGP was the Deputy Inspector General in charge of Force Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (FCIID).
Ozekhome while reacting to the appointment of the new Inspector General of Police said the president lacks the power to single-handedly appoint an IGP.
He argued that by sections 7(6) and 18(8) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, in addition to the clear provisions of sections 214 ,215 and 216 and paragraph 7 to the 3rd Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, “the president cannot single-handedly appoint an IGP, as he has again unconstitutionally and illegally done.”
He added that the president “can only do so in conjunction with the Nigeria Police Council comprising Mr. President as chairman, all the 36 state governors, the chairman of the Police Service Commission and the IGP,”
Therefore, according to him, “Such an appointment as just happened before the new acting IGP is capricious, arbitrary, whimsical, unconscionable, illegal, unlawful, wrongful and unconstitutional.”
Prof. Odinkalu, who was a former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, described the appointment of Acting IGP as illegal.
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“The Police Act, 2020, doesn’t recognise Acting Inspector-General of Police.
“The Constitution requires Police Council to advise on the appointment of IGP. They have not met.
“The Police Affairs Minister has no powers in the process.” he tweeted
