The Integrity Youth Alliance, an organization that has been monitoring the development trends in the Nigeria Police Force for over 15 years, has blasted the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, over its statement that the disposition of the President and the National Assembly to pass an Executive Bill on Police Act Amendment, is undemocratic, abusive, lacking in transparency, and setting a negative precedent.
Reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s Bill to the House of Representatives and Senate on Tuesday to amend the tenure of the IGP, the Alliance’s Secretary General, Danjuma Lamido, said that the amendment bill is a significant milestone in the quest for a more robust, responsive, and people-friendly policing system in Nigeria.
“The so-called “rights group” has no jurisdiction over the tenure of the Inspector General of Police; therefore we find it very ridiculous that such a group could say ‘The passage of the bill without a public hearing is undemocratic and goes against the principles of separation of powers and public participation in governance’.
“The Executive bill is only to give strength to Section 7 (6) of the Police Act 2020 which puts the tenure of office of any IGP at four years which is sacrosanct.
“On the claim that ‘President Tinubu was expected to avoid the wrongful, patently illegal, and unconstitutional steps of the past, which led to controversies and judicial challenges of appointments made by the president,’ we state categorically that in 2023, Justice Omotoso invoked section 7 (6) of the Police Act 2020 which put the tenure of office of any IGP at four years.
“The judge held that the retirement of Inspector General of Police from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has nothing to do with his appointment on the ground that the four-year tenure is sacrosanct.
“We see the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, as a busy body and meddlesome interloper. They are not serving police officers qualified for appointment or ever applied for an IGP’s position.
“We wondered when the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, turned to the Secretary of the Nigeria Police Council to have noted that “President Tinubu is not known to have consulted the Police Council, which he chairs, to secure the concurrence of its members in the appointment process, as required by both the Constitution and the Police Act’.
“We applaud President Tinubu for taking the initiative and blazing a novel new path towards the rule of law, as well as the public promise he made on May 29, 2023, during his inauguration speech.
