- President Muhammadu Buhari may have approved a six-month tenure extension for the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris
- The move has attracted criticisms from opposition political parties, under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties
- The parties are threatening to drag the president before the court over the planned tenure extension
A report by The Punch indicates that President Muhammadu Buhari may have approved a six-month tenure extension for the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
The move has, however, attracted criticisms from opposition political parties, under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).
The parties are threatening to drag the president before the court over the planned tenure extension.
According to the report, the president has agreed in principle to grant the IG additional six months in office to enable him to coordinate and supervise the forthcoming general elections in the country.
Officially, Idris is due to retire from the Nigeria Police Force on January 3, 2019, having put in the mandatory 35 years in service.
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He was, however, said to have lobbied some senior presidency functionaries, who, in turn, got the president to extend the IG’s tenure.
A source quoted in the report said: “It is a done deal; the IG’s tenure has already been extended because the presidency has confidence in him. He would get the official confirmation any moment from now; that is if he hasn’t received it already.
“Extending the IG’s tenure is not unexpected. The other service chiefs had their tenure extended by a year. So, giving Idris the same privilege is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Reacting, the planned extension of tenure, the CUPP said, would only afford the police boss the opportunity to do the president’s bidding and work for the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2019 general elections.
The CUPP further stated that Nigeria’s constitution does not make any provision for tenure extension for the office of the IG.
The spokesperson for the CUPP, Imo Ugochinyere, said the opposition parties were shifting their attention to the leadership of the force following Buhari’s decision not to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and the inability of federal lawmakers to override his veto.
His words: “We are insisting that the Inspector-General of Police, whose tenure is expiring in January, must leave the office.
“So, we are demanding that the president should not extend his tenure because there is no such provision in the constitution. A former police officer cannot be an Inspector-General of Police. We will be filing an action in court to ensure that he leaves office in January.”
Also, the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) has kicked against the alleged tenure elongation, noting that Idris had so far “demonstrated lack of capacity and inability to effectively police Nigeria as the IG.”
The CDNDC coordinator, Dare Atoye, argued that wanton killings and criminality had increased under Idris leadership of the police, adding that there were more competent officers in the NPF that could do the job better.
His words: “The only good thing that can happen to the Nigeria police is for the government of President Buhari to look for a competent replacement; somebody who has the discipline and the character to lead the force.
“I believe many Nigerians would agree with me that the wanton killings in the country and the lack of training without equipment have been aggravated under his leadership.”
Appraising the alleged reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the activist observed that no reform had taken place, noting that the impunity being carried out by the squad was merely suppressed.
On his part, the secretary-general, Basic Rights Enlightenment Foundation, Ikechukwu Maduike, also kicked against the government’s decision, stressing that “the police had become worse under the IG.”
“We need someone who has new ideas so we can see something new in the force. I don’t think this IG has what it takes to transform the police force,” he said.
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Meanwhile, a report based on an analysis by Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) data has revealed that sectarian violence in the Middle Belt of Nigeria increased significantly in the year 2018.
According to the report, the violence is said to have eclipsed the Boko Haram conflict and almost doubled since 2017.
The NST documented 1,949 deaths through October 2018, compared to 1,041 sectarian-related deaths in all of 2017. The violence is about even with Boko Haram, in terms of the number of conflict-related victims. Deaths related to the Boko Haram conflict through October 2018 are roughly 1,900.
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